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TYPES AND EMBLEMS. 



TYPES AND EMBLEMS: 



& CoIIfrtiou of Imraouis 



ON SUNDAY AND THURSDAY EVENINGS 



METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, 




C. H/SPURGEON. 



ILontiort : 
PASSMORE and ALABASTER 4, PATERNOSTER BUILDINGS. 

187.->. 






loi 





ADVERTISEMENT, 



This book is called for. Not a few of Mr. Spurgeon's 
friends think that " none of his words should fall to the 
ground." They are hardly content with the weekly 
issue of his Sunday Morning Sermons, which have 
alreadjr accumulated to eighteen volumes of the Metro- 
politan Tabernacle Pulpit, but they want the Evening 
Sermons also. To meet this demand we propose to 
publish a series, of which " Types and Emblems " 
is the first volume. The sermons it contains have been 
selected from a large number preached by him on 
Sunday and Thursday evenings. It is hoped that the 
size and type will be acceptable to our subscribers. 

,:> ;v: rrtiE PUBLISHERS. 



CONTENTS. 



The Star of Jacob 1 

The Broad Wall - -------- is 

The Only Door -- --36 

Royal Emblems for Loyal Subjects ----- 56 

A Frail Leaf ---------- 73 

The Helmet -__-__-_- 83 

One Trophy for Two Exploits ------- 105 

Christ the Tree of Life - - - - - - - 125 

A Silly Dove 141 

Our Banner ---»-■ ___ 156 

Our Champion - - - =•_--■- -171 

The Fainting Hero -------- 186 

Women's Rights. — A Parable - - - - - - -201 

Black Clouds and Bright Blessings - • - - - 217 

David's First Victory .--__-_. 239 
David and his Volunteers ------- 261 





"There shall come a Star out of Jacob." — Numbers xxiv. 17. 

HIS prophecy may have some reference to 
David; but we feel persuaded that the true 
design of the Holy Spirit is to set forth an 
emblem of our Lord Jesus Christ. All 
nature, above as well as around us, is laid 
under contribution to set forth our Lord. 
All the flowers of the field and many of 
the beasts of the plain, and now the very orbs of 
heaven, are turned into metaphors and symbols by 
which the glory of Jesus may be manifested to us. 
Where God takes such pains to teach, we ought to be at 
pains to learn. Where he makes heaven and earth to 
be the pages of the book, we ought to be most ardent in 
our study. Oh, you who have neglected to learn of 
Christ, may that neglect come to an end, and may some 
word be spoken which shall be as the beaming of a star 
unto the darkness of your soul, that henceforth you 
may be led to know Christ, and to be found in him. 

Our Lord, then, is compared to a star, and we shall 
have seven reasons to assign for this. 

I. He is called a star as the Symbol of Government. 
You will observe how evidently it is connected with a 



2 Types and Emblems. 

sceptre and with a conqueror. Jacob was to be blessed 
with a valiant leader who should become a triumphant 
sovereign. Very frequently in oriental literature their 
great men, and especially their great deliverers, are called 
stars. The star has been constantly associated with 
monarchy, and even in our own country we still look upon 
the star as one of the emblems of lofty rank. Behold, 
then, our Lord Jesus Christ as the Star of Jacob. He 
is the Captain of his people, the Leader of the Lord's 
hosts, the King in Jeshurun, God over all, glorious and 
blessed for ever ! 

We may say of Jesus in this respect that he has an 
authority which he has inherited by right. He made all 
things, and by him all things consist. It is but just that 
he should rule over all things. As there is not a tongue 
that can move in heaven or earth except by his per- 
mission, it is meet that every tongue should confess that 
he is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Oh, that 
men were just towards the Son of God ! Would that 
their rebellious souls would give way to the force of 
rectitude — that they would no longer say, " Let us break 
his bonds asunder, and cast his cords from us \" Uncon- 
verted men, I would that you would yield to Jesus. 
He has a right to you. It is through his intercession 
that your forfeited life is still spared. It is by his 
divine goodness that you are where you are to-night. 
Through his mediatorial sovereignty it is that you are 
suffered to be on praying ground and pleading terms 
with God. Give him his due then. Eob him not of 
the allegiance which he so justly claims. Give not your 
spirit over to that exacting tyrant who seeks to compass 
your destruction. Bow the knee and kiss the Son, even 



The Star of Jacob. 3 

now, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way. 
Acknowledge him to be your Lord. 

Our Lord as a star has an authority which he has 

valiantly won. Wherever Christ is king he has had 

a great and a stern fight for it. Remember the dread 

conflict in Gethsemane in which he says, " I have 

trodden the wine press alone." When he came red with 

his own gore from Calvary, he had in fact there and then 

put to flight the hosts of "Bozrah and of Edom, and 

stained his garments with the victor's crimson. He who, 

then, travelled in the greatness of his strength is mighty 

still to save. In every human heart where Jesus reigns 

he reigns through having dislodged, by the force of grace, 

the old tyrant who had fixed his sovereignty there. The 

maintenance of that sovereignty within the heart is the 

result of the same powerful sceptre of his love and grace. 

Oh, that King Jesus would put forth his power and get 

a throne in more hearts ! Believers, do you not long to 

see him glorious ? I know you do if you love him. 

You would live for this, you would die for this ; — that 

Christ might have his own, and drive the milk-white 

steeds of triumph through the streets of Jerusalem, all 

his people bowing before him and strewing his pathway 

with their honours. O sinners ! would to (rod that 

you would yield to him. I pray that now he may gird 

his sword upon his thigh, and by the power of grace 

constrain you to bow your willing necks to his silver 

sceptre. Brethren and sisters, it is a mournful fact 

that Christ has so small a part of the world as yet in his 

royal power. See, the gods of the heathen stand fast 

upon their pedestals. The old harlot of Rome still 

flaunts in her scarlet. The crescent of Mahomed wanes, 



4 Types and Emblems. 

but still its baleful light is cast athwart the nations. 
Why tarries he ? Perhaps his finger is on the latch ; it 
may be that he will come ere long. Come quickly 
Lord ! our yearning hearts beseech thee to come ! 
Meanwhile, it is for you and for me to be fighting, each 
soldier in his rank, each man standing in his place, as 
his master has bidden him, contending with heart 
and soul and strength for the right and for the true, 
for faith, for holiness, for the cross, and all that 
that cross indicates amongst the sons of men. Blessed 
Star of Jacob ! Thou shinest with no borrowed rays ; 
thou shinest with a mysterious power which none gave 
to thee, for it is inherently thine own. 

Before we leave this point, I will only say this king- 
dom of Christ, ivherever it is, is most beneficent. Wherever 
this star of government shines, its rays scatter blessing. 
Jesus is no tyrant. He rules not by oppression. The 
force he uses is the force of love. There was never a 
subject of Christ's kingdom that complained of him. 
Those who have served him most have longed to serve 
him more. Why, even his poor martyrs in the cata- 
combs of Rome, dying of starvation, or dragged up to 
the Colosseum to be devoured by wild beasts, never said 
an ill word of him. Certainly if it was hard to any it 
seemed to be hard to them ; but the more they were 
troubled the more they rejoiced, and there never were 
sweeter songs than those which came from dying lips 
when men were crackling on the faggot, or being dragged 
limb from limb at the heels of wild horses, or being sawn 
asunder. Just in proportion as the bodily pains became 
acute, the spiritual joy became intense ; and while the 
outward man decayed, the inner man leaped up into 



The Star of Jacob. 5 

newness of life, anticipating the joys of the first-born 
before the throne. He is a good master. Young people, 
I would that you would serve him ! Oh ! that you were 
enlisted in his service. It is now a good many years 
since I gave my heart to him, it is fast getting on for 
twenty years, but I cannot say a word against him. 
Nay, but I wish I had always served him; I wish I had 
served him before, and I do pray that he may use me to 
the fullest extent. If he will make but a door-mat for 
his temple of me I shall be but too glad. If he will let 
my name be cast out as evil and give my body to the 
dogs, I do not care as long as his truth does but prosper, 
and his name becomes great. But alas ! there is so much 
self in us, pride and I know not what besides, that we who 
really know the master have reason to ask him to bring 
in his great artillery and blow down the castles of our 
natural corruption, conquer us yet again, and rule in us 
by main force of grace, till in every part and corner of 
our spirits there shall be nothing but the love of Christ 
and the indwelling of his gracious Spirit. By the star 
we understand the symbol of government. 

II. In the second place, the star is the Image of 
Brightness. 

When men wish to speak of brightness they talk of 
the stars. They who are righteous are as the stars, and 
they that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the 
stars for ever and ever. Our Lord Jesus Christ is bright- 
ness itself. The star is but a poor setting forth of his 
ineffable splendour. Oh ! let the thought come home 
to you. He is the brightness of his Father's glory — un- 
utterably bright as the Deity. He is brightness himself 
in his human nature, for in him there was neither spot 



6 Types and Emblems, 

nor wrinkle. As Mediator, exalted on high, enjoying 
the reward of his pains, he is bright indeed. Observe, 
that our Lord as a star is a bright particular star in the 
matter of holiness. In him was no sin. Look, and 
look, and look again into his star-like character. Even 
the lynx-eyes of infidels have not been able to discover 
a mistake in him ; and as for the attentive eyes of critics 
who have been believers, they have been made to water 
again and again, and then to glisten and sparkle with de- 
light as they have seen the mingling of all the perfections 
in his adorable character to make up one perfection. 

As a star, he shines also with the light of knowledge. 
Moses was, as it were, but a mist, but Christ is the pro- 
phet of light. " The law was given by Moses " — a thing 
of types and shadows — " but grace and truth come by 
Jesus Christ/' If any man be taught in the things of 
God, he must derive his light from the Star of Bethlehem. 
You may go as you will to the universities, to the tomes 
of the learned, to the schools of the philosophers, but 
in spiritual things you receive no light till you look up 
to Jesus, and then in his light you see light, for there is 
transcendent brightness in him. He is the wisdom of 
God as well as the power of God ; he is the way, the 
truth, and the life. Divine light has found its centre in 
him ! 

His light too is that of comfort. Oh ! how many have 

emerged from the darkness of their souls and fouud peace 

by looking up to this Star of Jacob, the Lord Jesus 

Christ ! Well did our hymn put it — 

" He is my soul's bright Morning Star, 
And he my Rising !Sun." 

One glimpse of Christ and the midnight of your 



The Star of Jacob. 7 

unbelief is over. But a sight of the five wounds and your 
sins are covered and your iniquities put away. Happy 
day, happy day, when first the soul beholds a crucified 
Redeemer, and gives herself up to him, relying upon 
him for eternal salvation. Shine, sweet Star — shine into 
some benighted heart to-night ! Give thou holiness, 
give light, give the knowledge of God, give thou joy and 
peace in believing, in believing in the precious blood ! 

When speaking upon Christ as a star, " the Symbol of 
Government,'' I said, submit to him. Now, speaking of 
him as a star, the Image of Brightness, I say look to him 
— look to him. It is the Gospel's precept. " Look unto 
me, and be ye saved all ye ends of the earth/'* and well 
do we sing — 

" There is life for a look at the Crucified One." 

Poor sinner, delay no longer. You are not asked to do 
anything, nor to be anything, nor to feel anything ; but 
you are simply bidden to look away from self to what 
Christ has done, and you shall live. 

" View him prostrate in the garden, 
On the ground jour Maker lies ; 
On the bloody tree behold him, 
Hear him cry before he dies — 

' It is finished.' 
Sinner, will not this suffice ? " 

Look to him then and live. 

III. Thirdly, our Lord is compared to a star to bring 
out the fact, that he is the Pattern of Constancy. 

Ten thousand changes have been wrought since the 
world began, but the stars have not changed. There they 
remain. We dreamed at one time that they moved. Un- 
taught imagination said that all those stars revolved 



g Types and Emblems. 

around this little globe of ours. But we know better 
now. There they are both day and night — always the 
same, and we may say they have not changed since the 
world begau, nor probably will they till like a vesture God 
shall roll creation up because it is worn out. It is very 
delightful to recollect that the same star which I looked 
at last night was viewed by Abraham, perhaps with 
some of the self-same thoughts. And when we have 
gone, and other generations shall have followed us, those 
that come after will look up to the self-same star. So 
with our Lord Jesus. He is the same yesterday, to-day, 
and for ever. What the prophets and apostles saw in 
him, we can see in him, and what he was to them, that 
he is to us, and shall be to generations yet unborn. 
Hundreds of us may be looking at the same star at the 
same time without knowing it. There is a meeting- 
place for many eyes. We may be drifted, some of us, 
to Australia, or to Canada, or to the United States, or 
we may be sailing across the great deep, but we shall 
see the stars there. It is true that on the other side of 
the world we shall see another set of stars, but the stars 
themselves are always still the same. As far as we in 
this atmosphere are concerned, w r e shall look upon some 
star. So, wherever we may be, we look to the same 
Christ. One brother here has learning, but as he 
looks to Christ, he sees the same Christ as the 
poor unlettered woman in the aisles. And you, poor 
man, who have not, perhaps, a sixpence in the world, 
you have got the same Christ to trust in as the richest 
man in all the world. And you who think yourself so 
obscure that no one knows you but your God, you look 
to this same star, and it shines with the same beams for 



The Star of Jacob. 9 

you, as for the Christian who leads the van in the Lord's 
hosts. Jesus Christ is still the same, the same to all 
his people, the same in all places, the same for ever and 
ever. Well therefore may he be compared to those bright 
stars that shine now as they did of old and change not. 

IV. In the fourth place, we may trace this comparison 
of our Lord to a star as the Fountain op Influence. 

The old astrologers used to believe very strongly in the 
influence of the stars upon men's minds. Without en- 
dorsing their exploded fallacies, we meet in Scripture 
with expressions like this : — " Canst thou bind the sweet 
influences of the Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?" — 
alluding, no doubt, to the fact that the Pleiades are in the 
ascendant in the sweet months of spring, when the warm 
breath and gentle showers are bringing forth the green 
sprout and tender blade, the foliage and the flowers of May, 
with all the loveliness of the season, while Orion is in the 
ascendant as a wintry sign, when the bands of frost are 
binding up the outburst of nature. But, whether there be 
an influence in the stars or not, as touching this world, 
I know there is great influence in Christ Jesus. He is 
the fountain of all holy influences among the sons of 
men. Where this star shines upon the graves of men 
who are dead in sin they begin to live. Where the 
beam of this star shines upon poor imprisoned spirits, their 
chains drop off, the captive leaps to lose his chains. 
When this star gleams upon a burdened Christian with its 
light, he begins to bud and blossom, and precious fruits 
are brought forth. When this star shines upon the 
backslider, he begins to mend his ways, and to follow, 
like the eastern sages, its light till he finds his Saviour 
once more. This star has an influence upon our nativity. 



10 Types and Emblems. 

It is through its benign rays that we are born again, 
and in our horoscope it has an influence upon our death, 
for it is in its light that we fall asleep, believing that 
we shall wake up in the image of the Lord Jesus. 
Oh ! sweet star, shine on me always ! Never let me 
miss thy rays; but may I always walk in the light 
thereof, till I be found sitting in the full noontide heat 
of the Sun of Righteousness for ever and ever. 

V. In the fifth place, the Lord Jesus Christ may be 
compared to a star as a Source of Guidance. 

There are some of the stars that are extremely useful 
to sailors. I scarcely know how else the great wide sea 
would be navigated, especially if it were not for the Polar 
Star. Jesus is the Polar Star to us. How the poor 
negro in the olden times, when the curse of slavery had 
not been taken away, must have blessed God for that 
pole star — so easy to find out. Any child with but a 
moment's teaching will soon know how to discover it in 
the midst of its fellows at night, and when the negro 
had once learned to distinguish the star that shone over 
the land of freedom, how he followed it through the 
great dismal swamps, or along the plains which were 
more dreadful still ; how he could ford the streams, and 
climb the mountains, always cheered by the sight of that 
pole star. Such is Jesus Christ to the seeker. He leads 
to liberty ; he conducts to peace. Oh ! I wish you would 
follow him, some of you who are going about a thousand 
ways to find peace where you will never find it. There 
is never a Sunday but I try to speak, sometimes in 
gentler tones, and at other seasons with thundering 
notes, the simple truth that Jesus Christ came into the 
world to save sinners. I do try to make it plain to you 



The Star of Jacob. 11 

that it is not your prayers and tears, your doings, your 
willings, your anything, that can save you, but that all 
your help is laid upon one that is mighty, and that you 
must look alone to him. Yet, sinners, you are still 
looking to yourselves. You rake the dung hills of your 
human nature to find the pearl of great price which is 
not there. You will look beneath the ice of your 
natural depravity to find the flame of comfort which is 
not there. You might as well seek in hell itself to find 
heaven as look to your own works and merits to find 
some ground of trust. Down with them! Down with 
them, every one of them ! Away with all those con- 
fidences of yours, for 

" None but Jesus, none but Jesus, 
Can do helpless sinners good." 

Just reverse that helm, and shift that sail, and tack 
about ! Follow not the wrecker's beacon on yonder 
shore luring you to the rocks of self-delusion, but where 
that pole star guides, thither let your vessel drift, and 
pray for the favouring gales of the blessed Spirit to 
guide you rightly to the port of peace. 

VI. Our Lord is compared to a star, surely, as the 
Object of Wonder. 

One of the first lines which full many of you ever 
learned to recite was — 

•* Twinkle, twinkle, little star, 
How I wonder what you are ;" 

But that is precisely what Galileo might have said, and 
exactly what the greatest astronomer that ever lived 
might say. You have sometimes looked through a tele- 
scope and have seen the planets, but after you have 



12 Types and Emblems. 

looked at them you do not know particularly about 
them ; and those who are busy all day and all night long 
taking constant observations, I think will tell you that 
the result is rather that of astonishment than of intelli- 
gence. Still it is 

" How I wonder what you are." 

So to those of us who are in Christ Jesus, he is a peerless 
star; but oh, brethren! we may well wonder what he is. 
We used to think when we were little ones that the stars 
were holes pricked in the skies, through which the light 
of heaven shone, or that they were little pieces of gold- 
dust that God had strewn about. We do not think so 
now ; we understand that they are much greater than 
they look to be. So, when we were carnal, and did 
not know King Jesus, we esteemed him to be very 
much like anybody else, but now we begin to know him, 
we find out that he is much greater, infinitely greater 
than we thought he was. And as we grow in grace, we 
find him to be more glorious still. A little star to our 
view at first, he has grown in our estimation into a 
sun now, a blazing sun, by whose beams our soul is re- 
freshed. Ah ! but when we get near to him, what will he 
be? Imagine yourself borne up on an angePs wiug 
to take a journey to a star. Travelling at an incon- 
ceivable rate you open your eyes on a sudden and say — 
"How wonderful! Why, that which was a star just 
now has become as large to my vision, as the sun at 
noon-day." " Stop," says the angel ; " you shall see 
greater things than these," and, as you speed on, the 
disc of that orb increases, till it is equal to a hundred 
suns ; and now you say, " But what ? Am I not near 



The Star of Jacob. 13 

it now?'' u No," says the angel, "that enormous 
globe is still far, far away," and when you come to it, you 
would find it to be such a wondrous world, that arith- 
metic could not compute its size ; scarcely could imagi- 
nation belt it with the zone of fancy. Now, such is 
Jesus Christ. I said he grows upon his people here, 
but what must it be to see him there, where the veil is 
lifted, and we behold him face to face ? Sometimes we 
long to find out what that star is, to know him, to 
comprehend, with all saints what are the heights and 
depths, and to know the love of Christ which passeth 
knowledge ; but, meanwhile, we are compelled to sit 
down and sing — 

" God only knows the love of God : 
Oh that it now were shed abroad 
In this poor stony heart." 

We have to confess that 

"The first-born sons of light 
Desire in vain its depth to see ; 
They cannot reach the mystery, 
The length, the breadth, the height." 

"VII. But, to conclude, the metaphor used in the 
text may well bear this seventh signification. Our 
Lord is compared to a star, as He is the Herald of 
Glory. 

The bright and morning star foretells that the sun is 
on its way to gladden the earth with its light. Wherever 
Jesus comes he is a great prophet of good. Let him 
come into a heart, and, as soon as he appears, you may 
rest assured that there is a life of eternity and joy to 
come. Let Jesus Christ come into a family, and what 
changes he makes there. Let him be preached with 



14 Types and Emblems. 

power in any town or city, and what a herald of good 
things he is there. To the whole world Christ has 
proclaimed glad tidings. His coming has been fraught 
with benedictions to the sons of men. Yea, the coming 
of Christ in the flesh is the great prophecy of the glory 
to be revealed in the latter days, when all nations shall 
bow before him, and the age of peace, the golden age 
shall come, not because civilisation has advanced, not 
because education has increased, or the world grown 
better, but because Christ has come. This is the first, 
the fairest of the stars, the prognostic of the dawn. 

Ay, and because Christ has come, there will be a 
heaven for the sons of men who believe in him. Sons 
of toil, because Christ has come, there shall be rest 
for the weary. Daughters of sorrow, because Christ 
has come, there shall be healing for the weak. O you 
whom chill penury is bowing down ! there shall be 
lifting up and sacred wealth for you, because the star 
has shone. Hope on ! hope ever ! Now that Jesus has 
come, there is no room for despair. 

I commend these thoughts to you, and earnestly ask 
you once again, if you have never looked to Christ, to 
trust in him now ; if you have never submitted to Jesus, 
to submit to him now; if you have never confided in 
him, to confide in him now. It is a very simple matter. 
May God the Holy Spirit teach and guide you to disown 
yourselves, and to acknowledge him ; cease from your 
own thoughts, and trust his word. This done by 
you all, there is proof positive that all is done for you 
by Christ. You are his, and he is yours ; where he 
is shall your portion be; and you shall be like him, 
for you shall see him as he is. It will be a day to be 



The Star of Jacob. 15 

had in remembrance if you are led now to give 
yourselves to him. I well recollect when my heart 
yielded to his Divine grace ; when I could no longer 
look anywhere else, and was compelled to look to him. 
Oh, come ye to him ! I know not what words to use, 
or what persuasions to employ. For your own sake, that 
you may be happy now; for eternity's sake, that you 
may be happy hereafter ; for terror's sake, that you may 
escape from hell ; for mercy's sake, that you may enter 
into heaven, look to Jesus. You may never be bidden 
to do so again. This bidding may be the last, the con- 
cluding measure which shall fill up the heap of your 
guilt, because you reject it. Oh ! do not despise the 
exhortation. Let the prayer go up quietly now from 
your spirit, " God be merciful to me a sinner/' Let 
your soul wrestle vehemently. Let your tongue utter 
its mighty resolve — 

" I'll to the gracious King approach, 
Whose sceptre pardon gives ; 
Perhaps he may command my touch, 
And then the suppliant lives. 

I can but perish if I go, 

I am resolved to try ; 
For, if I stay away, I know 

I must for ever die. 

But, if I die with mercy sought, 

When T the King have tried, 
That were to die, delightful thought, 

As sinner never died." 




ptf Ipalt 




" The broad wall." — Nehemiah iii. 8. 

T seems that around Jerusalem of old, iu the 
time of her splendour, there was a broad 
wall, which was her defence and her glory. 
Jerusalem is a type of the Church of God. 
It is always well when we can see clearly, 
distinctly, and plainly, that around the 
Church to which we belong there runs a 
broad wall. 

This idea of a broad wall around the Church suggests 
three things : separation, security, and enjoyment. Let 
us examine each of these in its turn. 

I. First, the separation of the people of God from 
the world is like that broad wall surrounding the holy 
city of Jerusalem. 

When a man becomes a Christian he is still in the 
world, but he is no longer to be of it. He was an heir 
of wrath, but he has now become a child of grace. 
Being of a distinct nature, he is required to separate him- 
self from the rest of mankind, as the Lord Jesus Christ 
did, who was "holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate 
from sinners." The Lord's Church was separated in 



The Broad Wall. 17 

his eternal purpose. It was separated in his covenant 
and decree. It was separated in the atonement, for 
even there we find that our Lord is called "the Saviour 
of all men, especially of them that believe." An actual 
separation is made by grace, is carried on in the work 
of sanctification, and will be completed in that day when 
the heavens shall be on fire, and the saints shall be 
caught up together with the Lord in the air; and in 
that last tremendous day, he shall divide the nations as 
a shepherd divides the sheep from the goats, and then 
there shall be a great gulf fixed, across which the 
ungodly cannot go to the righteous, neither shall the 
righteous approach the wicked. 

Practically, my business is to say to those of you who 
profess to be the Lord's people, take care that you 
maintain a broad ivall of separation between yourselves 
and the world. I do not say that you are to adopt any 
peculiarity of dress, or to take up some singular style 
of speech. Such affectation gendereth, sooner or later, 
hypocrisy. A man may be as thoroughly worldly in 
one coat as in another, he may be quite as vain and 
conceited with one style of speech as with another ; 
nay, he may be even more of the world when he pre- 
tends to be separate, than if he had left the pretence 
of separation alone. The separation which we plead for 
is moral and spiritual. Its foundation is laid deep in 
the heart, and its substantial reality is very palpable 
in the life. 

Every Christian, it seems to me, should be more 
scrupulous than other men in his dealings. He must 
never swerve from the path of integrity. He should 
never say, " It is the custom : it is perfectly understood 

2 



18 Types and Emblems. 

in the trade/' Let the Christian remember that custom 
cannot sanction wrong, and that its being "under- 
stood" is no apology for misrepresentation. A lie 
"understood' is not therefore true. While the golden 
rule is more admired than practised by ordinary men, 
the Christian should always do unto others as he would 
that they should do unto him. He should be one whose 
word is his bond, and who, having once pledged his 
word, sweareth to his own hurt, bat changeth not. 
There ought to be an essential difference between the 
Christian and the best moralist, by reason of the higher 
standard which the gospel inculcates, and the Saviour 
has exemplified. Certainly, the highest point to which the 
best unconverted man can go might well be looked upon 
as a level below which the converted man will never 
venture to descend. 

Moreover, the Christian should especially be dis- 
tinguished by his pleasures, for it is here, usually, that 
the man comes out in his true colours. We are not 
quite ourselves, perhaps, in our daily toil, where our 
pursuits are rather dictated by necessity than by choice. 
We are not alone; the society we are thrown into 
imposes restraints upon us ; we have to put the bit and 
the bridle upon ourselves. The true man does not then 
show himself; but when the day's work is done, then 
the ". birds of a feather flock together." It is with the 
multitude of traders and commercial men as it was with 
those saints of old, of whom, when they were liberated 
from prison, it was said, " Being let go, they went unto 
their own company." So will your pleasures and 
pastimes give evidence of what your heart is, and where 
it is. If you can find" pleasure in sin, then in sin you 



The Broad Wall. 19 

choose to live, and, unless grace prevent, in sin you will 
not fail to perish. But if your pleasures are of a nobler 
kind, and your companions of a devouter character ; if 
you seek spiritual enjoyments, if you find your happiest 
moments in worship, in communion, in silent prayer, or 
in the public assembling of yourselves with the people of 
God, then your higher instincts become proof of your 
purer character, and you will be distinguished in your 
pleasures by a broad wall which effectually separates 
you from the. world. 

Such separation should be carried, I think, into every- 
thing which affects the Christian. " What have they seen 
in thy house ? " was the question asked of Hezekiah . 
When a stranger comes into our house it should be so 
ordered that he can clearly perceive that the Lord is 
there. A man ought scarcely to tarry a night beneath 
our roof, without gathering that we have a respect unto 
him that is invisible, and that we desire to live and 
move in the light of God's countenance. I have already 
said that I would not have you cultivate singularities for 
sigularity's sake ; yet, as the most of men are satisfied 
if they do as other people do, you must never be satisfied 
until you do more and better than other people, having 
found out a mode and course of life as far transcending 
the ordinary worldling's life, as the path of the eagle in 
the air is above that of the mole which burrows under 
the soil. 

This broad wall between the godly and the ungodly 
should be most conspicuous in the spirit of our mind. 
The ungodly man has only this world to live for ; do 
not wonder if he lives very earnestly for it. He has no 
other treasure ; why should he not get as much as he 



20 Types and Emblems. 

can of this? But you, Christian, profess to have 
immortal life, therefore, your treasure is not to be 
amassed in this brief span of existence. Your treasure 
is laid up in heaven and available for eternity. Your 
best hopes overleap the narrow bounds of time, and fly 
beyond the grave ; your spirit must not, therefore, be 
earth-bound and grovelling, but soaring and heavenly. 
There should be about you always the air of one who 
has his shoes on his feet, his loins girded, and his staff 
in his hand — away, away, away to a better land. You 
are not to live here as if this were your home. You 
are not to talk of this world as though it were to last for 
ever. You are not to hoard it and treasure it up, as 
though you had set your heart upon it, but you are to 
be on the wing as though you had not a nest here, and 
never could have, but expected to find your resting- 
place amongst the cedars of God, in the hill-tops of 
glory. 

Depend upon it, the more unworldly a Christian is 
the better it is for him. Methinks I could mention 
several reasons why this wall should be very broad. 
If you are sincere in your profession, there is a very 
broad distinction between you and unconverted people. 
Nobody can tell how far life is removed from death. 
Can you measure the difference ? They are as opposite 
as the poles. Now, according to your profession, you 
are a living child of God, you have received a new life, 
whereas the children of this world are dead in trespasses 
and sins. How palpable the difference between light 
and darkness ! Yet, you profess to have been cf some- 
times darkness," but now you are made "light in the 
Lord." There is, therefore, a great distinction between 



The Broad Wall. 21 

you and the world if you are what you profess to be. 
You say, when you put on the name of Christ, that you 
are going to the Celestial City, to the New Jerusalem ; 
but the world turns its back upon the heavenly country, 
and goes downward to that other city of which you 
know that destruction is its doom ; your path is different 
from theirs. If you be what you say you are, the 
road you take must be diametrically opposite to that of 
the ungodly man. You know the difference between 
their ends. The end of the righteous shall be glory 
everlasting, but the end of the wicked is destruction. 
Unless then you are a hypocrite, there is such a distinc- 
tion between you and others as only God himself could 
make — a distinction which originates here, to be per- 
petuated throughout eternity. When the social diversi- 
ties occasioned by rank and dependency, riches and 
poverty, ignorance and learning, shall all have passed 
away ; the distinctions between the children of God and 
the children of men, between saints and scoffers, between 
the chosen and the castaway, will still exist. I pray 
you, then, maintain a broad wall in your conduct, as 
God has made a broad wall in your state and in your 
destiny. 

Remember again, that our Lord Jesus Christ had a 
broad ivall between him and the ungodly. Look at him 
and see how different he is from the men of his time. All 
his life long you observe him to be a stranger and a 
foreigner in the land. Truly, he drew near to sinners, 
as near as he could draw, and he received them when 
they were willing to draw near to him ; but he did not 
draw near to their sins. He was " holy, harmless, un- 
dented, and separate from sinners." When he went to 



22 Types and Emblems. 

his own city of Nazareth, he only preached a single 
sermon, and they would have cast him headlong down 
the hill if they could. When he passed through the 
street, he became the song of the drunkard, the butt 
of the foolish, the mark at which the proud shot out 
the arrows of their scorn. At last, having come to his 
own, and his own having received him not, they deter- 
mined to thrust him altogether out of the camp, so> 
they took him to Golgotha, and nailed him to the tree 
as a malefactor, a promoter of sedition. He was the 
great Dissenter, the great Nonconformist of his age. 
The National Church first excommunicated, and then 
executed him. He did not seek difference in things 
trivial ; but the purity of his life and the truthfulness of 
his testimony, roused the spleen of the rulers and the 
chief men of their synagogues. He was ready in all 
things to serve them and to bless them, but he never 
would blend with them. They would have made him 
a king. Ah ! if he would but have joined the world, 
the world would have given him the chief place, as the 
world's Prince said on the mountain : " All these things 
will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me." 
But he drives away the fiend, and stands immaculate 
and separate even to the close of his life. If you are a 
Christian, be a Christian. If vou follow Christ, go 
without the camp. But if there be no difference between 
you and your fellow- man, what will you say unto the 
King in the day when he cometh and findeth that you 
have on no wedding garment by which you can be 
distinguished from the Test of mankind ? Because 
Christ made a broad wall around himself, there must 
be such an one around his people. 



The Broad Wall. 23 

Moreover, dear friends, you will find that a broad 
•wall of separation is abundantly good for yourselves. I 
do not think any Christian in the world will tell you 
that when he has given way to the world's customs, he 
has ever been profited thereby. If you can go and find 
an evening's amusement in a suspicious place, and 
feel profited by it, I am sure you are not a Christian ; 
for, if you were a Christian indeed, it would pain your 
conscience, and unfit you for devouter exercises of the 
heart. Ask a fish to spend an hour on dry land, and, 
I think, did it comply, the fish would find that it was not 
much to its benefit, for it would be out of its element. 
And it will be so with you in communion with sinners. 
When you are compelled to associate with worldly people 
in the ordinary course of business, you find much that 
grates upon the ear, that troubles the heart, and annoys 
the soul. You will be often like righteous Lot, vexed 
with the conversation of the wicked, and you will say 
with David : 

" All ! woe is me that I 

In Meshech dwell so long : 
That I in tabernacles stay, 
To Kedar that belong ! " 

Your soul will pine and sigh to come forth and wash 
your hands of everything that is impure and unclean. As 
you find no comfort there, you will long to get away to 
the chaste, the holy, the devout, the edifying fellowship 
of the saints. Make a broad Avail, dear friends, in your 
daily life. If you begin to give way a little to the 
world, you will soon give way a great deal. Give sin an 
inch, and it will take an ell. " Take care of the pence, 
and the pounds will take care of themselves," is an apt 



24? Types and Emblems. 

motto of economy. So, too, guard against little sins, if 
you would be clear of the great transgression. Look 
after the little approaches to worldliness, the little givings- 
up towards the things of ungodliness, and then you will 
not make provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts 
thereof. 

Another good reason for keeping up the broad wall of 
separation is, that you will do most good to the world 
thereby. I know Satan will tell you that if you bend a 
little, and come near to the ungodly, then they also will 
come a little way to meet you. Ay, but it is not so. 
You lose your strength, Christian, the moment you 
depart from your integrity. What do you think un- 
godly people say behind your back, if they see you 
inconsistent to please them ? " Oh ! " say they, ' l there 
is nothing in his religion, but vain pretence ; the man 
is not sincere." Although the world may openly 
denounce the rigid Puritan, it secretly admires him. 
"When the big heart of the world speaks out, it has 
respect to the man that is sternly honest, and will 
not yield his principles — no, not a hair's breadth. In 
such an age as this, when there is so little sound 
conviction, when principle is cast to the winds, and when 
a general latitudinarianism, both of thought and of 
practice, seems to rule the day, it is still the fact, that a 
man who is decided in his belief, speaks his mind boldly, 
and acts according to his profession — such a man is sure 
to command the reverence of mankind. Depend upon 
it, woman, your husband and your children will respect 
you none the more because you say, " I will give up some 
of my Christian privileges/' or, " I will go sometimes 
with you into that which is sinful." You cannot help 



The Broad Wall 25 

them out of the mire if you go and plunge into the mud 
yourself. You cannot help to make them clean if you 
go and blacken your own hands. How can you wash 
their faces then ? You young man in the shop — you 
young woman in the work-room — if you keep yourselves 
to yourselves in Christ's name, chaste and pure for 
Jesus, not laughing at jests which should make you 
blush : not mixing up with pastimes that are suspicious ; 
but, on the other hand, tenderly jealous of your con- 
science a? one who shrinks from a doubtful thing 
as a sinful thing, holding sound faith and being 
scrupulous of the truth — if you will so keep yourselves, 
your company in the midst of others shall be as though 
an angel shook his wings, and they will say to one 
another, " E-efrainfrom this or that just now, for so-and- 
so is there." They will fear you, in a certain sense ; 
they will admire you, in secret ; and who can tell but 
they, at last, may come to imitate you ? 

Would ye tempt God ? Would ye challenge the deso- 
lating flood? Whenever the church comes down to 
mingle with the world, it behoves the faithful few to 
fly to the ark and seek shelter from the avenging storm. 
When the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that 
they were fair to look upon, then it was that God said 
it repented him that he had made men upon the face of 
the earth, and he sent the deluge to sweep them away. 
A separate people God's people must be, and they shall 
be. It is his own declaration, "The people shall dwell 
alone ; they shall not be numbered among the people." 
The Christian is, in some respects, like the Jew. The 
Jew is the type of the Christian. You may give the Jew 
political privileges, as he ought to have; he may be 



26 Types and Emblems. 

adopted into the State, as he ought to be ; but a Jew 
he is, and a Jew he must be still. He is not a Gentile, 
even though he calls himself English, or Portuguese, or 
Spanish, or Polish. He remains one of the people of 
Israel, a child of Abraham, a Jew still ; and you can 
mark him as such — his speech bewrayeth him in every 
land. So should it be with the Christian ; mixing up 
with other men, as he must in his daily calling ; going 
in and out amoug them, like a man among men ; trading 
in the market ; dealing in the shop ; mingling in the 
joys of the social circle ; taking his part in politics, like 
a citizen, as he is; but, at the same time even, 
having a higher and a nobler life, a secret into- 
which the world cannot enter, and showing the world 
by his superior holiness, his zeal for God, his sterling 
integrity, and his unselfish truthfulness, that he is not 
of the world, even as Christ was not of the world. Yoa 
cannot tell how concerned I am for some of you, that 
this broad wall should be kept up ; for I detect in some 
of you at times a desire to make it very narrow, and,, 
perhaps, to pull it down altogether. Brethren, beloved in 
the Lord, you may depend upon it that nothing worse 
can happen to a church than to be conformed unto this 
world. Write " Ichabod n upon her walls then ; for the 
sentence of destruction has gone out against her. But,. 
if you can keep yourselves as 

" A garden walled around, 
Chosen and made peculiar ground," 

you shall have your Master's company ; your graces 
shall grow; you shall be happy in your own souls; 
and Christ shall be honoured in your lives. 



The Broad Wall 27 

II. Secondly ; the broad wall round about Jerusalem 

INDICATED SAFETY. 

In the same way, a broad wall round Christ's church 
indicates her safety too. Consider who they are that 
belong to the church of God. A man does not become 
a member of Christ's church by baptism, nor by birth- 
right, nor by profession, nor by morality. Christ is the 
door into the sheepfold ; every one who believes in 
Jesus Christ is a member of the true church. Being a 
member of Christ, he is a member, consequently, of the 
body of Christ, which is the church. Now, around 
the church of God— the election of grace, the redeemed 
by blood, the peculiar people, the adopted, the justified, 
the sanctified — around the church there are bulwarks of 
stupendous strength, munitions which guard them safely. 
When the foe came to attack Jerusalem, he counted the 
towers and bulwarks, and marked them well ; but after 
he had seen the strength of the Holy City, he fled away. 
How could he hope ever to scale such ramparts as those ? 
Brethren, Satan often counts the towers and bulwarks 
of the New Jerusalem. Anxiously does he desire the 
destruction of the saints, but it shall never be. He that 
rests in Christ is saved. He who hath passed through 
the gate of faith to rest in Jesus Christ may sing, with 
joyful confidence — 

" The soul that on Jesus hath lean'd for repose, 
I will not, I will not desert to his foes ; 
That soul, though all hell should endeavour to shake, 
I'll never, no never, no never forsake." 

" I will be," saith Jehovah, " a wall of fire round 
about thee." Salvation will God appoint for walls and 
bulwarks. 



"28 Types and Emblems. 

The Christian is surrounded by the broad wall of God's 
power. If God be omnipotent, Satan cannot defeat 
him. If God's power be on my side, who, then, shall 
hurt me? " If God be for us, who can be against us ?'* 

The Christian is surrounded by the broad wall of God's 
love. Who shall prevail against those whom God loves ? 
I know that it is vain to curse those whom God hath not 
cursed, or to defy those whom the Lord hath not defied ; 
for whomsoever he blesseth is blessed indeed. Balak, 
the son of Zippor, sought to curse the beloved people, 
and he went first to one hill-top and then to another, 
and looked down upon the chosen camp. But, aha ! 
Balaam, thou couldst not curse them, though Balak 
sought it ! Thou couldst only say, " They are blessed, 
yea, and they shall be blessed V 

God's law is a broad, wall around us, and so is his 
justice too. These once threatened our destruction, but 
now the justice of God demands the salvation of every 
believer. If Christ has died instead of me, it would, not 
be justice if I had to die also for my sin. If God has 
received the full payment of the debt from the hand of 
the Lord Jesus Christ, then how can he demand the 
debt again ? He is satisfied, and we are secure. 

The immutability of God, also, surrounds his people 
like a broad wall. " I am God, I change not ; therefore 
ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." As long as God 
is the same, the rock of our salvation will be our secure 
hiding-place. 

Upon this delightful truth, we might linger long, for 
there is much to cheer us in the strong security which 
'God has given in covenant to his people. They are 
surrounded by the broad wall of electing love. Doth 



The Broad Wall 29 

God choose them, and will lie lose them? Did he 
ordain them to eternal life, and shall they perish ? Did 
he engrave their names upon his heart, and shall those 
names be blotted out ? Did he give them to his Son to 
be his heritage, and shall his Son lose his portion ? Did 
he say, " They shall be mine, saith the Lord, in the day 
when I make up my jewels," and shall he part with 
them ? Has he who maketh all things obey him no 
power to keep the people whom he has formed for him- 
self to be his own peculiar heritage ? God forbid that 
we should doubt it. Electing love, like a broad wall,, 
surrounds every heir of grace. 

And oh, how broad is the wall of redeeming love. Will 
Jesus fail to claim the people he bought with so great a 
price ? Did he shed his blood in vain ? How can he 
revive enmity against those whom he hath once recon- 
ciled unto God, not imputing their transgressions unto 
them ? Having obtained eternal redemption for them, 
will he adjudge them to everlasting perdition ? Has he 
purged their sins by sacrifice, and will he then leave them 
to be the victims of satanic craft ? By the blood of the 
everlasting covenant, every Christian may be assured 
that he cannot perish, neither can any pluck him out 
of Christ's hand. Unless the cross were all a perad- 
venture, unless the atonement were a mere speculation, 
those for whom Jesus died are saved through his death. 
Therefore he shall see of the travail of his soul and be 
satisfied. 

As a broad wall which surrounds the saints of God is 
the work of the Holy Spirit. Does the Spirit begin and 
not finish the operations of his grace ? Ah no ! Does he 
give life which afterwards dies out ? Impossible ! Hatk 



30 Types and Emblems. 

he not told us that the Word of God is the incorruptible 
seed, which liveth and abideth for ever? And shall 
the powers of hell or the evil of our own flesh destroy 
what God has pronounced immortal, or cause dissolution 
to that which God says is incorruptible ? Is not the 
Spirit of God given us to abide with us for ever, and 
shall he be expelled from that heart in which he has 
taken up his everlasting dwelling-place ? Brethren, we 
are not of their mind, who are led by fear or fallacy to 
hazard such conjectures. We rejoice to say with Paul, 
" I am persuaded that he who hath begun a good work 
in you will carry it on." We like to sing — 

" Grace will complete what grace begins, 
To save from sorrows or from sins ; 
The work that wisdom undertakes 
Eternal mercy ne'er forsakes." 

Almost every doctrine of grace affords us a broad wall, 
a strong bastion, a mighty bulwark, a grand munition of 
defence. Take, for instance, Christ's suretyship en- 
gagements. He is surety to his Father for his people. 
When he brings home the flock, think you he will have 
to report that some of them are lost ? At his hands 
will they be required. Not so ! 

" I know that safe with him remains, 
Protected by his power, 
What I've committed to his hands, 
Till the decisive hour." 

" Here am I," will he say, " and the children whom 
thou hast given me, of all whom thou hast given 
me I have lost none." He will keep all the saints 
even to the end. The honour of Christ is involved. 
If Christ loses one soul that leans upon him, the 



The Broad Wall. 31 

integrity of his crown is gone ; for if there should 
be one believing soul in hell, the prince of darkness 
"would hold up that soul and say — ' ' Aha ! Thou couldst 
not save them all ! Aha ! Thou Captain of Salvation, 
thou wast defeated here ! Here is one poor little 
Benjamin, one Ready-to-Halt, that thou couldst not 
bring to glory, and I have him to be my prey for ever V 
But it shall not be. Every gem shall be in Jesu's crown. 
Every sheep shall be in Jesirs flock. He shall not be 
defeated in any way, or in any measure ; but he shall 
divide the spoil with the strong, he shall establish the 
cause he undertakes, he shall eternally conquer ; glory 
be unto his great and good name ! 

Thus I have tried to show you the broad walls which 
.are round about believers. They are saved, and they 
may say to their enemies, " the virgin daughter of Zion 
hath shaken her head at them, and laughed them to 
scorn ! Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's 
elect ? It is God that justifieth ; who is he that con- 
demneth ? It is Christ that died, yea, rather that hath 
risen again from the dead ; who sitteth at the right hand 
of God, who also maketh intercession for us ! For I 
am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, 
nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor 
things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other 
creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of 
God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord ? }> 

III. The idea of a broad wall, and with this I close, 

SUGGESTS ENJOYMENT. 

The walls of Nineveh and Babylon were broad ; so 
broad that there was found room for several chariots to 
pass each other. Here men walked at sunset, and 



32 Types and Emblems. 

talked and promoted good fellowship. If you have ever 
been in the city of York you will know how interesting- 
it is to walk around the broad walls there. But our 
figure is drawn from the Orientals. They were ac- 
customed to come out of their houses and walk on the 
broad walls. They used them for rest from toil, and 
for the manifold pleasures of recreation. It was very 
delightful when the sun was going down, and all was 
cool, to walk on those broad walls. And so, when a 
believer comes to know the deep things of God, and to 
see the defences of God's people, he walks along them 
and he rests. " Now," saith he, " I am at rest and 
peace ; the destroyer cannot molest me; I am delivered 
from the noise of archers in the place of the drawing of 
water, and here I can exercise myself in prayer and 
meditation ! Now that salvation is appointed for walls 
and bulwarks, I will sing a song unto him who hath 
done these great things for me ; I will take my rest and 
be quiet, for he that believeth hath entered into rest; 
there is, therefore, now no condemnation to them which 
are in Christ Jesus." Broad walls, then, are for rest, 
and so are our broad walls of salvation. 

Those broad walls were also for communion. Men 
came there and talked with one another. They leaned 
over the wall and whispered their loving words, con- 
versed of their business, comforted one another, related 
their troubles and their joys. So, when believers come 
unto Christ Jesus they commune with one another, with 
the angels, with the spirits of just men made perfect, and 
with Jesus Christ their Lord, who is best of all. Oh ! 
on those broad walls, when the banner of love waves over 
them, they sometimes rejoice with a joy unspeakable, 



The Broad Wall. 33 

in fellowship with him who loved them and gave him- 
self for them. It is a blessed thing in the Church 
when you get such a knowledge of the doctrines of the 
gospel that you can have the sweetest communion with 
all the Church of the living God. 

And then the broad walls were also intended for 
prospects and outlooks. The citizen came up on the 
broad wall, and looked away from the smoke and dirt of 
the city within, right across to the green fields, and the 
gleaming river, and the far off mountains, delighted to 
watch the mowing of hay, or the reaping of corn, or the 
setting sun beyond the distant hills. It was one of the 
common enjoyments of the citizen of any walled city, 
to come to the top of the wall in order to take views 
afar. So, when a man once gets into the altitudes of 
gospel doctrines, and has learned to understand the love 
of God in Christ Jesus, what views he can take ! How 
he looks down upon the sorrows of life ! How he looks 
beyond that narrow little stream of death ! How, some- 
times, when the weather is bright and his eye is clear 
enough to let him use the telescope, he can see within 
the gates of pearl, and behold the joys which no mortal 
eye hath seen, and hear the songs which no mortal 
ear hath heard, for these are things, not for eyes and 
ears, but for hearts and spirits ! Blessed is the man 
who dwelleth in the Church of God, for he can find on 
her broad walls places from which he can see the king in 
his beauty, and the land which is very far off ! 

Ah ! dear friends, I wish that these things had to do 
with you all, but I am afraid they have not ; for many 
of you are outside the wall, and when the destroyer 
comes none will be safe but those who are inside 

3 



34 Types and Emblems. 

the wall of Christ's love and mercy. I would to God 
that you would escape to the gate at once, for it is 
open. It will be shut — it will be shut one day, but it is 
open now. When night conies, the night of death, the 
gate will be shut, and you will come then and say, 
"Lord, Lord, open to us V But, the answer will be — 

" Too late, too late ! 
Ye cannot enter now." 

But, it is not too late yet. Still Christ saith, " Behold, 
I set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it." 
Oh ! that thou hadst the will to come and put thy trust 
in Jesus ; for if thou dost so, thou shalt be saved. I 
cannot speak to some of you about security, for there are 
no broad walls to defend you. You have run away from 
the security. Perhaps you have been patching up with 
some untempered mortar a righteousness of your own, 
which will all be thrown down as a bowing wall and as 
a tottering fence. Oh ! that you would trust in Jesus ! 
Then would you have a broad wall which all the bat- 
tering-rams of hell shall never be able to shake. When 
the storms of eternity shall beat against that wall, it 
shall stand fast for aye. 

I cannot speak to some of you about rest, and en- 
joyment, and communion, for you have sought rest 
where there is none ; you have got a peace which is no 
peace; you have found a comfort which will be your 
destruction. God make you to be distressed, and 
constrain you by sore stress to flee to the Lord Jesus 
and get true peace, the only peace, for "he is our 
peace." 

Oh ! that you would close in with Christ and trust 



The Broad Wall 



35 



him, then you would rejoice in the present happiness 
which faith would give you ; but, the sweetest thing 
of all would be the prospect which should then unfold to 
you of the eternal happiness which Christ has prepared 
for all those who put their trust in him. 




% 'it 4* i 



Mil- 







" I ain the door : by me if any man enter in, lie shall he saved, and 
shall go in and out, and find pasture." — John x. 9. 

HE Word of God tells us that in the midst of 
the great mass of men there are to be found 
a special people — a people who were chosen 
of God out of the common race before 
the stars began to shine ; a people who 
were dear to God's heart before the foun- 
dation of the world; a people who were 
redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus beyond and 
above the rest of mankind; a people who are the 
especial property of Christ, the flock of his pasture, 
the sheep of his hand ; a people over whom Providence 
watches, shaping their course amid the tangled maze 
of life; a people who are to be produced at the last, 
every one of them faultless before the eternal throne, 
and fitted for the exalted destiny which, in the ages to 
come, he shall reveal. All through Scripture you read 
about this particular and special people. Sometimes 
they are called a " seed,'-' at other times " a garden/' at 
other times " a treasure," and sometimes, as in the 
chapter we have read, " a flock." The common name 



The Only Door. 37 

in the New Testament for them is " the church/' " the 
church of God which he hath purchased with his own 
blood/' " Christ loved the church, and gave himself for 
it ; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing 
of water by the word." 

Now, the grand question is, how to obtain admission 
into this church? Where is this community to be found ? 
Who are the members of it? What is the way to 
become a partaker of the privileges which belong to 
it ? Jesus Christ here tells us two things : First, How 
to enter the church. The way is through himself as 
the door. Secondly, What are the benefits we shall 
receive through being members of Christ's church — we 
shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture. 

I. HOW A MAN CAN BECOME A MEMBER OF THAT 
CHURCH WHICH IS ELECTED, REDEEMED, AND WILL BE 
SAVED IS SIMPLY, BRIEFLY SOLVED BY OUR LORD'S FIRST 
ASSERTION. 

Christ tells us that the only way to enter the Church is 
through himself. He is the door, the only door. There 
is no other mode of admission into his church but 
through himself. Let it be understood, then, once for 
all, that we cannot get into the church of Christ through 
baptism. There are tens of thousands; ay, there have 
been millions, who have been baptised after a fashion; that 
is to say, they have been sprinkled, and thousands have 
been immersed, who never were admitted into the church 
of Christ. In consideration of the ordinance as it was 
administered to them, with or more commonly with- 
out their consent, they were recognised by some persons 
as being Christians ; but let me tell you that unless they 
came to Christ by true faith, they are nothing better 



38 Types and Emblems. 

than baptised Pagans ; they are sprinkled heathens still. 
"Why, you might hold a man in an everlasting shower, 
but you could not make him " a member of Christ " 
thereby ; or you might drag him through the Atlantic 
Ocean, and if he survived the immersion, yet still he 
would not be one jot the better. The door is not bap- 
tism but Christ. If thou believest in Christ thou art 
a member of his church. If thy trust is stayed upon 
Christ, who is God's great way of salvation, thou hast 
evidence that thou wast chosen of him from before the 
foundation of the world ; and that faith of thine en- 
titles thee to all the privileges which Christ has promised 
in his Word to believers. 

If Christ be the door, then it follows that men do not get 
into the church by birthright. The Society of Friends 
has been one of the most useful communities in the 
world, and it has maintained a good testimony upon 
most important points for many years ; but it seems to 
me that the great evil in it, that which has done them 
the most mischief, is the admission of birthright mem- 
bership. Do they not receive into their fellowship 
the children of their members as though they were 
necessarily proper persons to be received into the visible 
church ? My brethren, it is a great privilege to have 
Christian parents ; it may prove a very great advantage, 
if you use it rightly ; but it involves a great responsi- 
bility, and if you use it wrongly, instead of being a 
blessing to you, it may be a fearful curse. Though you may 
be one of a long line of saints, " Except a man be born 
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." The most 
pious example, the most godly training, cannot ensure 
conversion, and without conversion, depend upon it, you 



The Only Door. 39 

cannot be Christ's. " Except ye be converted and 
become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into 
the kingdom of heaven." Through our not practising 
infant baptism, we do not so readily fall into this error 
as some denominations ; still it is necessary to say even 
here that you have no right to gospel privileges because 
of your mothers and fathers. You must be born again 
yourselves. You have no right to the covenant of grace, 
nor to the blessings and promises thereof, except as by 
your own personal and individual faith you come to 
Christ. It is not your father nor your mother that can 
be the door into Christ's church for you, but Christ him- 
self. " I," saith he, " I am the door." If you get 
Christ, you are in his church. If you have laid hold 
on him, you are a member of that secret and invisible 
community of his elect and his redeemed ; but it is not 
by baptism, nor yet by birthright, that you can ever 
be so. 

Moreover, as Christ is the door, it is evident that a 
man does not come to be a member of the church of Christ 
by making a profession of being so. He may prove him- 
self to be a detestable hypocrite, but he cannot prove 
himself to be a genuine Christian, by mere profession. 
Men do not get rich in this world by a lavish expendi- 
ture, or by a profession of being wealthy. They must 
hold the title-deeds of their estate, and have the cash 
in the strong box, or else they are poor, in spite of all 
their pretensions. And you cannot become a Christian, 
by coming forward and asking to be admitted into the 
church, declaring that you believe, and avowing that 
you repent. No, verily, but you must repent truly, 
or you shall perish; you must believe truly, or you 



40 Types and Emblems. 

shall have no part nor lot in this matter. The mere 
saying ct Yes, yes, I am willing to profess this, I am 
willing to say that ".no more makes you a Christian 
than it would make cotton to be silk to call it so, or 
make mud to be gold by labelling it with that title. 
Beware of a false profession, for it is doubly hazardous. 
The man who has no grace is in danger, but the man 
who makes a profession of having it when he has not, 
is in double danger, for he is the least likely to be 
awakened, and he is certain, unless sovereign grace pre- 
vent, to make his profession a pillow for his wicked and 
his slumbering head, till he sleeps himself into hell. 

Further, and this may touch the point, perhaps, 
more closely still, a man does not get to be one of the 
Lord's people, or to be one of Christ's sheep, by being 
admitted into any visible church. He ought not to try 
to get into any visible church until he is in the true 
church. He has no right to join the external organisation, 
until he has first got into the secret conclave by a living 
faith in Christ. If he leaves the door alone and gets 
over the wall, and comes into the outward church with- 
out being a believer in Christ, so far from being saved, 
Christ will say to him, " Thou art a thief and a robber, 
for thou hast climbed up some other way, and thou 
earnest not in by the door." I believe we do rightly 
to subject the admission of members to the voice of all 
the church ; I believe we do rightly to examine candi- 
dates to see whether they make a creditable profession, 
and whether they know what they are at. But our 
examination — oh, 'tis nothing better than skin deep. 
"We cannot search the heart, and the best judgment of 
never so many Christian men, though honest, and 



The Only Door. 41 

deserving to be treated with great respect, would be a very 
poor thing to rest upon. If you have not Christ, 
your church certificates are waste paper, and your 
membership with any people, however pure and apostolic 
they may be, is but a name to live while you are dead, 
for the only way, the sole way, of getting into the real, 
vital, living church of Christ, is by coming to Christ 
who is himself the door. 

The plain English of this metaphor, then, is just this 
— To be one of God's people, the essential thing is a simple 
dependence upon Jesus Christ. If you have not this — no 
matter who baptises you, or who gives you the con- 
secrated bread and wine, or who maudles to you about a 
hope of salvation for which there is no warrant — you 
will die in your sins, notwithstanding all yoar sacraments, 
except you come to Christ. No other admittance to 
heaven can there be, but by a simple dependence upon 
him who has bled and died on Calvary's cross; the 
preaching of any other system is a mere delusion, against 
which the warning voice went forth or ever the snare 
was laid to trap the unwary. 

Mark you, simple faith, where it is genuine, makes 
it plain that you do enter by Christ the door, because 
such faith leads to obedience. How canst thou suppose 
that thou art a member of his church if thou art not 
obedient to Christ ? It is necessary that the man who 
trusts Christ should become the servant of Christ. 
Heal faith never kicks at this, but rather delights in 
it. " If ye love me/' saith Christ, " keep my command- 
ments." Except we do keep Christ's commandments 
out of a principle of love to him, our religion is vain. 
" Without holiness no man shall see the Lord." We 



42 Types and Emblems. 

may talk as we will about inward experiences and 
believings, but " by their fruits ye shall know them." 
The Spirit of God is the spirit of holiness. When 
Christ comes into the soul, all iniquity must be purged 
out of the soul. You know how Malachi describes 
his advent. He proclaims to us the promise that the 
Lord whom we seek shall suddenly come to his temple : 
that is, seekers shall be finders ; do you know what he 
adds? "But who may abide the day of his coming? 
for he shall be like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap/' 
Now, the refiner's fire burns up the dross, and fullers' 
soap takes out the stains ; and so, if Christ be in you, 
you will pass through a refining that will burn up your 
outward sin, and you will be subjected to a washing like 
that of the fullers' soap, which will cleanse you from 
all your iniquities. "Be not deceived, God is not mocked, 
whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap." If 
ye live after the flesh ye shall die, but if, through the 
grace of Christ, ye are living in him, trusting in him, 
and serving him — service being the evidence of trust, 
and trust being the evidence of your election — ye have 
then come into the church through the door, and it is 
well with you. 

Now, if it be so, that Christ is the door into the 
church, and if we have entered the church through 
that door, it does not signify much to us what the 
old gentleman at Rome thinks of us. He may excom- 
municate us. This he is very fond of doing. He is 
a rare hand at cursing. What does it matter? It 
signifies not one jot, if I be in Christ Jesus a new 
creature, how much the Pope may rail at me. Be- 
sides, there are plenty of revilers now-a-days who are 



The Only Door. 43 

saying, " You Nonconformists are only a pack of here- 
tics ; we have the apostolical succession ; we have the 
sacraments and the priests." Ah ! they vaunt themselves 
as being " Catholic," though their claim is disallowed 
alike by the Babylon which is here below, and by the 
Jerusalem which is above. Let them vaunt if they 
will. As long as we have Christ, they may keep their 
apostolical succession, and all their other rubbish; he 
is the door, and if we have come through him it is well 
enough. I like that story of the Sandwich Islanders 
who had been converted through some of our mission- 
aries, and the Gospel had been preached to them for 
years. At last, two or three gentlemen in long black 
gowns landed there, and the people asked them what 
they had come for. They said they were come to instruct 
them in the true faith, and to teach them. Well, they 
said, they should be glad to hear it. If their teaching 
was true, and like the Scriptures, they would listen to 
them. By and by, a little diagram was exhibited to 
the natives after the similitude of a tree. This tree had 
many branches. The twigs which were farthest off 
were the different saints, the believers, those who do 
good works ; then the limbs, which were a little larger, 
were the priests ; the bigger boughs were bishops ; 
the biggest boughs were the cardinals ; and, at last, these 
all joined on to the trunk, which was the Pope, and that 
went all the way down to the bottom, till it came to 
Peter, who was the root, deriving his authority imme- 
diately from Christ. So the natives asked about all 
these twigs, and branches, and specially about certain 
rotten branches that were tumbling off into a fire. What 
were they ? They were Luther, and Calvin, and other 



44 Types and Emblems. 

heretics who had been cut off from the true tree of the 
church. " Well/' said one of the islanders, " and pray 
what is the root of the tree?" Of course, that was 
allowed to be Jesus Christ. So they clapped their 
hands at once for joy, and said, "Never mind about the 
branches, and stems, and twigs; we have never heard 
of them, but we have got the root, and that will do 
to grow on." In like manner, brethren, we can say to- 
night, if we have got Christ, we have got " the root 
out of the dry ground." We have got the root of the 
matter, the basis, the sum, the substance of it. 

" Let others trust what forms they please, 
Their hopes we'll not contest." 

Let them go about their business, and rejoice in their 
fancies; but Christ is the door. We have Christ, 
we have entered by the door, we have believed in him, 
we have entered through him into faith, and into joy, 
and into peace. We will be content with this; let 
others clamber up some other way if they please. 

Before I leave this point, a question suggests itself, 
— Have we all entered by the door? We are agreed 
that Christ is the door. Have we entered by the 
door ? You who are growing old — I always feel much 
pleasure in seeing grey heads, the type of mellowed 
years, in the concourse of worshippers ; — but huve 
you all believed in Jesus ; You know the truth, you 
would not like to hear anything but the simple 
Gospel preached ; but, have you laid hold on the Gospel ? 
A man may starve with bread upon the table if he 
does not eat, and he may perish with thirst, though he 
be up to his neck in water, if he does not drink. Have 



The Only Door. 45 

you trusted Christ ? If not, how can you remain in a 
state of unbelief, for (i he that believeth not is condemned 
already, because he believeth not on the Son of God." 
Men and women in middle life, struggling with the 
cares of business, have you entered into Christ? I 
know your thoughts are much taken up, and necessarily 
so, with the world ; but, have you not time to think upon 
this question, or dare you neglect it ; " Dost thou believe 
on the Son of God ? " If not, O man, thy life hangs 
on a thread, and that snapped, thy ruin is certain. 
And, oh, you young people, what a mercy it is to see 
you willing to come and hear the Word ! But, have you 
all heard it with your inward ears ? Have you looked to 
my Master ? Oh, it is sweet to come to Christ in the 
early morning of life, to have a long day of happiness 
before you ! May it be the blessedness of each one of 
us ! It is vain to look at the door unless you enter. 
God give you grace to come in, if you never have 
entered before. 

II. Our Lord and Master tells us what are the 

PRIVILEGES OF ENTERING THROUGH HIM, THE DOOR. 

The man who enters by Christ shall be saved, he shall 
go in and out and he shall find pasture. 

He shall be saved. The man who believes in Jesus 
Christ shall be saved; he is saved, and he shall be 
saved. A man has by accident killed his fellow-man. 
The next of kin to the murdered man will be sure to kill 
the man-slayer out of revenge, if he can get at him. 
Therefore the poor homicide takes flight as quickly as 
he can towards the city of refuge. How his heart beats, 
how his footsteps bound, how he flies with all his might. 
There is a handpost with the word " Refuge " upon it, 



46 Types and Emblems. 

and on he continues his way. But, presently, while he 
is running, he turns his head, and finds that the avenger 
of blood is after him. He sees that he is gaining upon 
him, he feels that he will probably overtake him. Oh ! 
how he picks his steps lest he should trip against a stone, 
how he skims the ground, swift as a doe. He runs 
until he can see the city gates. " That is the fair city 
of refuge/' saith he. But, he does not rest then, for a 
sight of the city will not secure him, so he quickens his 
speed, as if he would outstrip the wind, till he shoots 
through the archway, and he is in the broad street 
of the city. Now he stops. Now he breathes. Now 
he wipes the hot sweat from his brow. "Now I am 
safe," saith he, " for no avenger of blood dares cross 
that threshold ; he that once escapes here is delivered.'' 
So with the sinner when sin pursues him, when he dis- 
covers that he has offended God. He hears the furious 
coursers of divine vengeance coming on swiftly behind 
him, and his conscience flies, and his soul speeds towards 
the cross. He gets a little hope. He hears of a Saviour ; 
but that is not enough. He will never rest, he will 
never say he is at peace, until he has passed the gate of 
faith, and can say, u Now I do believe that Jesus died 
for me." 

He that enters in by the door shall be saved. 
Noah's ark was built in the olden times to pre- 
serve Noah and his family from the great flood. It 
could not be said that Noah would be saved till he had 
passed through the door ; but when he had done that, 
a divine hand, quite unseen, put the door to, and as Noah 
heard it fastened, and understood that the Lord had 
shut him in, he felt quite safe. If God shuts us in, the 



The Only Door. 47 

floods from beneath cannot drown us, and the rains from 
above cannot penetrate to injure us. He must be safe 
whom God shuts in. The moment that a poor sin- 
ner trusts in Christ, God shuts the door. There he 
is, and there he shall be, till time shall be no more. 
He is secure. The infernal powers shall not destroy 
him, and the vengeance of God cannot touch him. He 
has passed the door, and he shall be saved. 

I read a story the other day of some Russians cros- 
sing wide plains studded over here and there with forests. 
The villages were ten or a dozen miles from each other, 
the wolves were out, the horses were rushing forward 
madly, the travellers could hear the baying of the wolves 
behind them ; and, though the horses tore along with 
all speed, yet the wolves were fast behind, and they 
only escaped, as we say, " by the skin of their teeth," 
managing just to get inside some hut that stood in the 
road, and to shut-to the door. Then they could hear 
the wolves leap on the roof; they could hear them 
dash against the sides of the hut ; they could hear them 
gnawing at the door, and howling, and making all sorts 
of dismal noises ; but the travellers were safe, because 
they had entered in by the door, and the door was shut. 
Now, when a man is in Christ, he can hear, as it 
were, the devils howling like wolves, all fierce and 
hungry for him ; and his own sins, like wolves, are 
seeking to drag him down to destruction. But he has 
got in to Christ, and that is such a shelter that all the 
devils in the world, if they were to come at once, could 
not start a single beam of that eternal refuge : it must 
stand fast, though the earth and heaven should pass 
away. Now, to every man and woman Christ says that 



48 Types and Emblems. 

if they have entered in by the door, they shall be saved. 
Do not have any doubt about it. Do not let anybody 
raise the question whether you may be, or you may 
not be; you shall be. Oh, clutch at that blessed 
" shall." Sir, if you have been a drunkard, yet, if 
you trust in Christ, you shall be saved. You shall 
not go back to your old drunkenness, but you shall 
be saved from it, if you believe in him. O woman, 
if thou hast stained thy character to the worst, yet, 
if thou believest in Christ, none of thy old sins shall 
ruin thee, but thou shalt be saved. Ah ! though 
you be tempted every day of your lives, tempted as 
none ever were before, yet God is true, and cannot 
lie — if you come through Christ the door you shall be 
saved. Do you understand what it is to come through 
the door ? it is to depend upon Jesus, to give yourselves 
to him, to rest on him. When you hang up your jugs 
and mugs on the nail in the cupboard, what keeps them 
from falling ? Nothing but the nail, and if that holds 
well, nothing can fall that hangs on it. Now, you 
must trust in Christ as the vessel hangs on the nail, 
and if you do so, he is fastened as a nail in a sure 
place, and you cannot and shall not perish. That is 
the first privilege — he shall be saved. 

He that entereth in by the door shall go in. The 
man who believes in Christ shall go into rest and 
peace, for there is no condemnation to them that 
are in Christ Jesus. He shall go in to secret know- 
ledge. . He shall become a scholar, and shall be 
taught by Christ as his rabbi. He shall go in unto 
God with holy boldness in prayer. He shall go in unto 
that which is within the veil, and speak to God from 



The Only Door. 49 

before the mercy-seat. He shall go in unto the child's 
place, and shall stand as an adopted heir of heaven. 
He shall go in unto close communion with God. He 
shall speak with his Maker. The Lord shall lift up 
the light of his countenance upon him. He shall go in 
unto the highest attainment in spiritual things. He 
shall go in to the treasure-house of the covenant, and 
say — " All this is mine.'' He shall go in to the store- 
house of the promises, and take whatsoever his soul 
needeth. He shall go in, passing from circle to circle, 
till he comes in to the innermost place where the love 
of God is most graciously spread abroad. 

He that enters in by the door shall be saved, and 
he shall go in. If you know what this means — go in ; 
go in farther; go in more constantly. Do not stop 
where you are, but go in till you have got a little 
more. If you love Christ, come nearer to him, and 
nearer, and nearer still. Let your prayer be — 

" Nearer, my God, to thee, 

Nearer to thee ; 
E'en though it be a cross that raiseth me, 

Still this my cry shall be, 
Nearer to thee ; nearer to thee." 

But if you want to get into anything that is divine, you 
must get in through Christ. O you who open your 
bibles, and want to understand a text, the way to get 
into the meaning of a text is through the door, Christ. 
O you who want to get more holiness, come through 
the door ; the way to holiness is not through Moses, 
but through Christ. O you who would have closer 
communion with your heavenly Father, the way to come 
in is not through your own efforts, but through Christ. 

4 



50 Types and Emblems. 

You came to Christ at first to get salvation ; you must 
come to Christ still to get sanctification. Never look 
for another door, for there is but one, and that one door 
will let you into life, love, peace, knowledge, and sancti- 
fication. It will let you into heaven. Christ is the 
master-key of all the rooms in the palace of mercy, and 
if you get Christ you shall go in. Nothing shall keep 
you out of any of the secret chambers. You shall go 
in, in God's name, through Christ, the door. 

The next privilege is that he shall go out. Putting 
the two together — he shall go in and out — they 
signify liberty. The Christian does not come into the 
Church, as into a prison, but he comes in as a free man, 
walking in and out of his own house. But, what 
does it mean to go out ? I think it means this, brethren. 
The men that trust in Christ go out to their daily busi- 
ness through Christ, the door. I wonder how many of 
you ever thought of this ? You know sometimes you 
get up, put on your things, and go blundering out to 
work, and then you find yourselves very weak all day. 
Well, I do not wonder at it, for you do not go out 
through Christ, the door. Oh, suppose you had given 
yourselves to Christ for the day, and though you had 
time but for a few minutes' prayer, yet you had put it 
thus — "Lord, I am thine; take care of me to-day; I 
am going out where there will be many to tempt me and 
try me. I do not know what may happen, but, Lord, I 
am going out in thy name, and resting in thy strength ; 
if there is anything that I can do for thee, I desire to 
do it. If there is anything to suffer, I wish to suffer it 
for thy sake, but take care of me, Lord. I will not go 
out and face my fellow-men until I have seen thy face, 



The Only Boor. 51 

and I do not want to speak to them until I have spoken 
to thee, nor to hear what they have to say till I have 
heard what God the Lord will - speak." Depend upon 
it, it is blessed going out, when you go through the 
door. You will be sure to come home happy, when you 
go out after this sort. 

May not this going out also mean to go out to suffer- 
ing? You and I are called sometimes to bear great 
bodily pain, or losses, or bereavements. Well, now, 
what a sweet thing it is to go out to suffer these things 
through the door, and to be able to say, " Now, my 
Master, this is a cross, but I will carry it, not in my own 
strength, but in thine. Do what thou wilt with me ; I 
shall drink the cup because thou appointest it. When- 
ever you can see Christ's hand in it, it makes the bitter 
sweet, and heavy things soon grow light. Go to your 
sick-bed as you hope to go to your dying -bed, through 
the door, that is, through Christ. 

And when, as sometimes happens, we have to go out, 
as it were, away from fellowship with Christ, to fight 
with our inward sins, the right way is to go out 
to resist them through the door. If you ever try to 
fight with sin in your own strength, or on a legal 
footing, or because you feel that you will be condemned 
if you do not overcome those sins, you will be as weak 
as water. The manner of victory is through the blood 
of the Lamb. There is no killing sin, except by 
throwing the blood of Christ upon it. When once the 
blood of Christ comes into contact with the besetting 
sin, that sin withers straight away. Go to your spiritual 
conflicts through the door. 

And so, beloved, we ought in all that we do for the 



52 Tijpes and Emblems. 



Lord, to go out through the door. It is always sweet 
preaching for me when I feel that I come forth in the 
name of my Master, when I do not come to tell you what 
ideas I have woven out of my own brains, nor to 
put attractive figures before you, as I would like to 
do sometimes; but, rather, when I come to tell you 
just what my Lord would have you know, telling it 
as a message to you from your God, and cherishing in 
my own heart his great love towards perishing sinners. 
Then, indeed, to minister is joy. You Sunday school 
teachers will always teach well, when you go down 
to the school-room through the door — that is, having 
been with Christ, having sought and enjoyed his 
company. I know, my dear brethren and sisters, 
you who are teaching larger classes, you who are engaged 
in instructing or exhorting, you who go about any holy 
work, you always do ' it well, when you have God's 
smile upon you in the doing of it; and you shall 
have great success in the doing of it, if you always 
go to it through Christ, the door ; if you serve Christ 
through Christ, and do it, not only for him, but 
through him and by him. Our own strength is per- 
fect weakness, but the strength which comes through 
simple dependence upon the ever-living Christ, who has 
said, " Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of 
the world," — this is the strength which wins the con- 
quest. God give you grace not only to go in, but also 
to go out through the door. 

Well, now, the last privilege named in the text is, 
61 And shall find pasture." I suppose this is what you 
come here for, you who love the Lord, you come here 
for pasture. It is a great blessing if when we 






The Only Boor. 53 

come to hear the gospel, it becomes real pasture to 
us. We do know some who say that the troubles of the 
week become unbearable, because they have such barren 
sabbaths. Ah, if you are members of a church that is 
rent with discord, where the ministry abounds in any- 
thing but Christ, you will soon begin to cry out, and 
you will value the privilege of hearing Jesus' Christ 
lifted up among you. But, who are the people who get 
the pasture where Jesus Christ is preached ? Not all who 
hear him, nor yet all believers ; there are times when 
you may hear a sermon that is of no use to you, 
and yet your brother or sister by your side may 
be greatly instructed and comforted thereby. In 
such a case, I should not wonder if it was because your 
friend came in to the service through the door, and you 
did not. 

Do you remember the story of Mr. Erskine and the 
good lady who went to hear him preach at the com- 
munion? It was such sweet preaching, she thought 
she had never heard the like. So, after service, she 
asked, Who the gentleman was that preached to-day; and, 
on being told that it was Mr. Ebenezer Erskine, she 
said, "I will come and hear him again next Sunday 
morning." She went, she listened, and she thought to 
herself, — " Well, this is very dry, very heavy preaching." 
She was not at all comforted by it ; then, like a foolish 
woman, as I should think she must have been, she went 
into the vestry, and said, " Oh, Mr. Erskine, I heard you 
last Sabbath with much pleasure, sir; I never was so edified; 
and, I came again this morning, but I have been dread- 
fully disappointed." So the good man said, very calmly, 
""Pray madam, when you came to the kirk last Sunday, 



54 Types and Emblems. 

what did you come for ?" She said, *' f I came to com- 
munion, sir/' " To have fellowship with Christ, I 
suppose ? " he asked. " Yes, sir." " Well, you came 
for it, and you had it. And pray, what did you come here 
this morning for?" Said she, "I came to hear you,. 
sir/' "And, you had it, woman," said he, "you had 
it, and you had not anything else, because you did not 
come for anything more than that." Well, now, when 
people come merely to hear a minister, or for custom's- 
sake, or for form's sake, do they not always get what 
they come for ? If people come to find fault, we always 
give them plenty of our imperfections to be entertained 
with, so they need not be disappointed. If others come 
merely out of custom, they say, " Well, this is my work, 
I have performed my duty/'' Of course it is, but if you 
had come in through the door — that is, looking to 
Christ, looking for Christ, desiring not to see the 
preacher but the Lord, not to get the word of man 
but the Word of God, to your soul — I believe you 
would have found pasture. Brethren, the sheep want 
pasture. No other food will suit them. So your 
soul wants heavenly truth, and if you come to the 
house of God through Christ, you will get it. If you 
turn to the bible through Christ, you will find it a 
rich storehouse. If you come to prayer through the 
door of Christ, you will find it comforting, and so you 
shall find pasture. 

I think the text may mean, that he who rests in 
Christ shall have all his wants supplied. If this text 
does not mean so, another does : — u The Lord is my 
shepherd, I shall not want ; he maketh me to lie down 
in green pastures, he leadeth me beside the still waters." 



The Only Door. 55 

Some of you are very poor, but if you have trusted iu 
Christ, you may plead this promise — " Thou hast said 
I shall find pasture/' Come to Christ, and tell him that 
he himself has said it — " No good thing will he withhold 
from them that walk uprightly/' 

I would to God that some who have never yet entered 
into the fold might now be drawn to Jesus. Oh, that 
ye would come through the door into these four choice 
privileges. You may never have such another oppor- 
tunity. You may never feel any of the motions of the 
Spirit of God again. Oh ! that without delay, ye would 
just cast your helpless souls upon the Saviour's gracious 
arms, who is able and willing to save, that ye might be 
saved now. 





K^al $0^ fty feal $«%& 




" And he shall be as the light of the morning, -when the sunriseth, 
even a morning without clouds ; as the tender grass springing out of 
the earth by clear shining after rain." — 2 Samuel xxiii. 4. 



ASTERN despots fleece their subjects to an 
enormous extent. Even at the present day 
one would hardly wish to be subjected to 
the demands of an Oriental government ; 
but in David's time a bad king was a 
continual pestilence, plague, and famine — 
a bane to the lives of his subjects, who 
were under his caprice ; and spoliation to their fields, 
which he perpetually swept clean to enrich himself 
with the produce thereof. Hence, a good king was a 
vara avis in those days, and could never be too highly 
prized. So soon as he mounted the throne, his subjects 
began to feel the beneficent influence of his sway. He 
was to them "as when the sun riseth." The con- 
fusion which had existed under weak governors gave 
place to settled order, while the rapacity which had con- 
tinually emptied the coffers of the rich, and filched 
the earnings of the poor, gave place to a regular system 
of assessment, and men knew how to go about their 
business with some degree of certainty. It was to them 



Royal Emblems for Loyal Subjects. 57 

" a morning without clouds." Forthwith, trade began 
to flourish; persons who had emigrated to avoid the 
exactions of the tyrant came back again ; fields which 
had fallen out of tillage, because they would not pay the 
farmer to cultivate them, began to be sown ; and the new 
ruler was to the land as " clear shining after rain, which 
makes the tender grass spring up." 

I fear we do not value, as we should, the constitutional 
government which it is our privilege as Britons to 
enjoy. Let us look where we may — we need not 
say to the east only but to the west also — we would 
not wish to change the government under which we 
live so happily. Let us gratefully acknowledge to God 
his tender mercy, and his goodness, in sparing us alike 
from the refractory elements of a republic, and the pro- 
digious exactions of a despotism, and for giving us to 
dwell in a quiet and peaceable kingdom, wherein 
we can sit " every man under his own vine and under 
his own fig-tree, none making him afraid." We may 
say, I am sure, of Her Majesty who is set over us in 
the order of Providence, that she has been " as the sun 
when he riseth, as a morning without clouds." Under 
her generous sway our country has been verdant. As 
"the earth by clear shining after rain" bringeth forth 
the green herb, so have our institutions fostered our 
trade and commerce by the good- will and gracious 
^providence of God. 

But, it is not my object at present to enlarge upon 
the secular benefits that have fallen to our lot ; though 
I should not think it unworthy of the Christian minister 
to pursue a theme which calls for so much gratitude to 
God, and might foster so much good feeling among 



58 Types and Emblems. 

ourselves. We might make one another feel that there- 
are vast mercies we enjoy which would be more esteemed 
if better known. Just as the Bible speaks of Christ's 
unknown sufferings, so many of the bounties that we 
daily enjoy have become so common that we are oblivious 
of them; and, therefore, I might call them our un- 
known mercies. It well becomes us to lift up our voices 
and hearts to heaven, and thank God for the happy land, 
and for the happy age in which the lines have fallen to us. 
Still, I take it that David was not so much speaking of 
mere political rulers as of Christ Jesus, King of kings and 
Lord of lords, whose sway is always gracious and full of 
goodwill. May his kingdom come ! " Behold, I come 
quickly/' he crieth from heaven ; "Even so, come quickly, 
Lord Jesus/' respond those whose love inspires their 
worship. His kingdom is " as the sun when it riseth, as a 
morning without clouds ;" and, when it shall have been 
perfectly established upon the earth, all men shall know 
that the Son of David, whom once they rejected, is he by 
whom God would make all generations to be blessed for 
ever and ever. May we who have waited and watched for 
his glorious advent live when he standeth in the latter 
day upon the earth, and may we constitute a part of that 
glorious harvest, the fruit whereof shall shake like the 
cedars of Lebanon. Thus we look for the day wherein 
the Lord shall come in the clouds of heaven. 

David says of Christ, " He shall be as the light of the 
morning when the sun riseth/' This he is as king, 
already, in his church, and as the rightful monarch in 
the individual heart of the believer. Wherever Christ 
comes into a soul, it as the light of the morning when 
the sun riseth. The light of the morning is joyous, 



Royal Emblems for Loyal Subjects. 59* 

then all the birds begin to sing, and the earth, which is 
silent at night, save when its stillness is disturbed by 
stormy winds, or by wild beasts, or by riotous drunken 
people, becometh vocal with songs from many mouths • 
so when Christ cometh into the heart, the tuneful notes 
of the singing birds are heard; and the voice of the turtle 
welcomes the gladsome season. Where darkness had 
brooded before, the sunlight of Christ bringeth mirth and 
blessed rejoicing. Oh, what streamers are there in the town 
of Mansoul when Prince Emmanuel rideth through I 
Happy day, happy day, when Jesus comes into the heart ! 
Save the day when we shall be with him where he is,, 
I suppose there is no day that is comparable to the first 
one, when we behold Christ, and see him, as our Saviour 
and our King. The rising of the sun is joyous, and> 
besides that, it is comforting and consoling to those 
who have been suffering from ills which night might 
aggravate. "Would God 'twere morning!" has been 
the cry of many a languishing one tossing upon his 
couch: "Would God 'twere morning \" may be the cry 
of many a heart that is troubled exceedingly with the 
guilt of sin. Ah, let the morning come. Let the 
watchman say, "The morning cometh;" let the day 
dawn, and the day-star appear in our hearts, and " there 
is the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise 
for the spirit of heaviness/' Joy to cheer and comfort 
the disconsolate Christ bringeth, for he is as the rising 
of the sun. 

And, how glorious is the sun when from his pavilion 
he looks forth at morn ! Job describes the sunrise as 
being the stamping of the earth with a seal ; as if, when 
in darkness, the earth were like a lump of clay that is 



€0 Types and Emblems. 

pervious ; then, as it is turned to the light, it beginneth 
to receive the impress of Divine wisdom; mountain 
and vale all stream with it, till impressed on its surface 
we begin to perceive the glorious works of God. So 
when Christ riseth upon the heart, what a glorious 
transformation is wrought ! Where there has been no 
love, no faith, no peace, no joy, none of the blessed fruits 
of the Spirit, no sooner doth Christ come than we 
perceive all the graces in blossom; yea, they soon become 
fragrant and blooming, for we are made complete in him. 
The advent of Christ bringeth to the heart celestial beauty; 
faith in him decketh us with ornaments and clothes us as 
with royal apparel. Better garments than Dives had, 
though he wore scarlet and fine linen, doth Christ give 
to his people when he cometh to them ; and better fare 
than Dives had, though he fared sumptuously every day, 
does Jesus bestow upon his saints when he shineth into 
their hearts. Oh, the glory of the sun-rise of the Saviour 
on the darkness of the human soul ! If a man might 
rise every morning of the year to look at the rising sun, 
and yet never be tired of it, because of the sublimity of 
the spectacle ; methinks a man might consider his own 
conversion every hour in the day, and every day of his 
life, and yet never be wearied with the thrice heavenly 
spectacle of Christ arising over the mountains of his 
guilt, to banish the dense darkness of his despair. 
As the sun-rising is thus joyous, and comforting, and 
glorious, let us remember how unparalleled it is — unpa- 
ralleled because divine. By no method of illumination 
can we manufacture such a light as the sun exhibits by 
his simple rising. O ye priests, ye come, with your in- 
cantations and mysteries, to make light in men's hearts, 



Royal Emblems for Loyal Subjects, 61 

and sometimes ye strike a spark that doth but show the 
darkness ; it dieth too soon to be called " the light." 
And ye pile your deeds to heaven — your faggots of good 
works — ye put your van-load of superstitious observ- 
ances, and vainly try to make an illumination ; but ere 
it beginneth to blaze it dieth out, and a handful of ashes 
alone remains to disappoint the expectant ones. But, 
Christ ariseth, and with what boundless majesty he 
looks abroad. The joy, the peace, the comfort, the 
confidence, the full assurance, the blissful hope, which 
one ray of Christ's light gives to the heart of man is not 
to be equalled — nay, scarcely to be compared with any- 
thing else. It is a joy that God only giveth us, and, 
thank God, a joy which none can take away. And, 
as this sun-rise of Christ in our heart is Divine, so 
likewise it is irresistible. No curtains can conceal the 
sun from the world when he willeth to rise. No tyrant, 
by any law, can prevent the sun's beams from gilding 
the cottage of the poor. Shine he must, and will. 
Like a giant he cometh out of his chamber, and where 
is he that shall wrestle with him? Where art thou, 
O man, who can take the bridle of the sun, and bid 
his coursers stay their race ? Until they have climbed to 
heaven, and then gone down again to bathe their burn- 
ing fetlocks in the Western Sea, they must, they will 
pursue their onward course, for none can stay them, or 
say to their mighty driver, " What doest thou ?" So, 
when Jesus comes into the heart — avaunt, thou fiend ! 
Thy time of flight is come ! Away despair and doubt, 
and aught that can prevent the soul from having joy and 
peace ! Thus the eternal mandate runs : " Let that man 
go free !" Thus saith Jehovah to Pharaoh : " Let my 



€3 Types and Emblems. 

people go ;" and go they must and shall, for the time of 
their light and their liberty is come. Like the rising of 
the sun when he springs forth " as a giant strong, and 
as a bridegroom gay," even so is Christ Jesus when he 
riseth in the human heart. 

The sun-rise, moreover, is very much like the coming 
of Christ, because of that which it involveth. Those 
rays of light which first forced the darkness from the 
sky with golden prophecy of day, tell of flowers that 
shall open their cups to drink in the sun-light ; they tell 
of streams that shall sparkle as they flow ; they tell of 
the virgins that shall make merry, and the young men 
that shall rejoice, because the sun shineth on them, and 
the darkness of night is fled. And so the coming of 
Christ into the heart is a prophecy of years of sweet en- 
joyment — a prophecy of God's goodness and long- 
suffering, let night reign, elsewhere, as it may — yea, and 
it is a prophecy of the fulness of the river of God, for 
ever and ever, before the throne of God in heaven. 
Hast thou Christ, poor soul? Christ is to thee the 
prophet of eternal happiness. Thou canst not be dark 
again if Christ hath once shone on thee. No night 
shall follow this blessed day ; it is a day that lasts 
for ever. 

" Doth Jesus once upon thee shine, 
Then Jesus is for ever thine." 

Hath Christ appeared to thee? Dost thou trust him 
now ? Art thou reposing only upon his finished work ? 
Then the sun hath risen upon thee, and it shall go 
down no more for ever. The everlasting Joshua biddeth 
the sun stand still, and to-day and to-morrow, though 
the whole world revolve, that Sun of Righteousness 



Royal Emblems for Loyal Subjects. 63 

abideth still to shine on thee with healing in his 
wings. 

We must proceed to notice that the psalmist uses 
another figure : " Even as a morning without clouds." 
Brethren, there are no clouds in Christ when he ariseth 
in a sinner's heart. The clouds that mostly cover our 
sky come from Sinai, from the law, and from our own 
legal propensities, for we are always wishing to do some- 
thing by which we may inherit eternal life ; but there 
are none of these clouds in Christ. There is no cloud 
in Christ of angry rebuke for the past. When Jesus 
receiveth the sinner, he chideth not. "Neither do I 
condemn thee" is all that he hath to say. I thought 
-when I came tremblingly to him, that at least he would 
bring all my sins before me, and chide me before he 
sealed my pardon with the kiss of mercy ; but it was 
not so. The Father received the prodigal without a 
single word of rebuke. He did but say, " Take off his 
rags •" he did but command them to kill the fatted calf 
that they might make merry ; not a word doth he speak 
of his hungry look, nor his filth, nor of the far country, 
nor even of the harlots with whom he had spent his 
substance. Christ receiveth the soul without rebuke, for 
he is " as a morning without clouds." 

And, as there is no cloud of anger, so there is no cloud 
of exacting demand. He doth not ask the sinner to be 
anything, or to do anything. That were a cloud, in- 
deed, if he did. A sinner by nature can do nothing, 
and can be nothing, except as grace shall make him be 
and do. If Christ did ask anything of you or me, if he 
did but ask repentance of us, unless he gave us that 
repentance, his salvation would be of no avail to us. 



64 Types and Emblems. 

But he asketh nothing ; all he bids us to do is to take him 
as everything, and be nothing ourselves. So, to the 
empty-handed sinner, he is such a full Christ, that we 
may well say, " He is a morning without clouds." 

And, as he is without cloud of demand, so he is with- 
out cloud of falsehood. I know that some say Christ 
may reject those who have put their trust in him — that 
after they are saved, they may yet fall from grace and 
perish. Surely, that were not a morning without 
clouds ? I should see in the distance the tempest 
gathering that might ultimately destroy my spirit ; but 
no, if thou trustest Christ, he will surely save thee, even 
to the end. If thou puttest thy soul into his hand, 
there is no fear that he shall be false to the sacred 
charge; he will undertake to be surety for thy soul; 
he will bring thee to his Father's face without hindrance, 
when the fulness of time is come. Trouble not your- 
selves, O ye anxious ones concerning the future. Does 
faith reach only to the present? Do ye trust Christ 
only to save you to-day ? I pray you take a larger 
sweep of confidence, and trust him to save you to the 
end. If you do so, he will be better to you than your 
fears would suggest, or than your faith can conceive ; to 
the end he will love you, and in the end he will bring 
you to be like him, and to be with him where he is. 
Happy is that man who seeth Christ "as a morning 
without clouds." They who see any clouds in him 
make the clouds. The clouds are only in their vision ; 
they are not in his person. The spots and defects 
are in themselves; they are not in his person nor 
in his work. If thou wilt only trust him fully, simply, 
without any admixture of thine own merit or confidence, 



Royal Emblems for Loyal Subjects. 65 

thou shalt find him to be equal to the brightest descrip- 
tion — a morning without a single cloud. 

But, now, to the last figure. Upon this we intend to 
dwell at somewhat greater length. David says of Christ, 
the king, that his sway is like " clear shining after rain, 
whereby the tender grass is made to spring out of the 
earth/' We all understand the metaphor. "We have 
often seen how, after a very heavy shower of rain, and 
sometimes after a continued rainy season, when the sun 
shines, there is a delightful clearness and freshness in 
the air that we seldom perceive at other times. Perhaps, 
the brightest weather is just when the wind has drifted 
away the clouds, and the rain has ceased, and the sun 
peers forth from his chambers to look down upon the 
glad earth. Well, now, Christ is to his people just 
like that — exceedingly clear-shining when the rain is 
over. 

Sorrow and sadness do not last for ever. After the 
rain there is to come the clear shining. Tried believer, 
after all thy afflictions there remains a rest for the 
people of God ; and if, just now, thou art tried and vexed 
by some extraordinary trial, there is a clear shining 
coming to thy soul when all this rain is over. Look to 
Christ, and thou shalt find where that clear shining is. 
The quiet contemplation thou shalt have of him, when 
this time of rebuke is over, shall then be to thee as the 
earth when the tempest has sobbed itself to sleep, when 
the clouds have rent themselves to rags, and the sun 
peers out, shooting forth virtue with its lustrous rays. 
And while sorrows, like the floating clouds, last not for 
ever, they do work together with the bliss, that as 
the clear sunshine followeth afterwards, to produce good. 

5 



66 Types and Emblems. 

It is not in the sorrow, perhaps, to bring forth good 
alone, any more than the rain might altogether bring 
forth the spring blade; but when the sorrow and the joy, 
when the affliction and the consolation, come together, 
then the joy of the heart is indeed benign. None 
bring forth much fruit for God but those who have 
been deeply ploughed with affliction and deluged with 
grief, but even they do not bring forth much fruit till 
they have had the joy of Christ's presence after the 
affliction is over. Clear shining after rain produces an 
atmosphere exceedingly good for the herbs, and the 
joy of the soul in the presence of the Lord, after a 
time of sorrow, makes it able to grow in grace and in 
the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 

Thus, after times of great trouble, Christ becometh 
to his people more specially and delightfully sweet than he 
has ever been before. I notice this in many instances. 
It is manifest in conversion. What happy, happy days 
were our first young days in the faith. I cannot forget 
mine — I never shall. When talking with those who 
come to tell me what God has done for their souls, I 
notice the freshness upon their memory of every separate 
event on the day of their new birth ; they can tell how 
Christ appeared unto them, and how they looked unto 
him and were lightened. " I can never forget that, sir, 
till I die," says one ; " I have a very bad memory, 
and I forget almost everything that is good, but that 
I shall never forget, for it was such a joyous season." 
I know that many of you have had good days, but they 
have been like pieces of money that you received when 
children, very bright once ; but they have passed about 
and worn in circulation, until they have lost the image 



Royal Emblems for Loyal Subjects. 67 

and superscription which was once so bright to your 
eyes. Not so the day of your new birth, it has been 
like a coin, as fresh as when you laid it aside, and when 
you take it out again, it is as fresh as the mint delivered 
it, and you can read it still, and read the image of 
Christ which it bears. I think there is scarce such a 
day on earth to be had in Christian experience, as 
that first day when we came to Christ and knew 
him. 

The like is true also, in its measure, after great and 
heavy affliction. You have been bereaved. A wife, a 
husband, a child, has been removed from you; or, 
you had a great loss in business, you were crossed in some 
expectation, and you were cast into the lowest depth of 
trouble. Friends failed you, consolation fled from you ; 
but, after a time, you had a sweet resignation ; you could 
say, "My soul is even as a weaned child;" your 
troubles somehow or other grew sweet as honey, though 
before they had been bitter as gall. You saw the finger 
of a loving Lord in all those graving lines of affliction, 
which the chisel had made upon your brow; you saw the 
great Refiner sitting at the mouth of the furnace, watch- 
ing your gold that it might not be destroyed, and re- 
joicing over your dross, because it melted away in the 
flame. Do you remember it ? Why, I can look back 
to some of the happiest seasons of my life, and see them 
stand in juxta-position with the blackest times of trial. 
Oh, it has been, sometimes, a glorious thing to be cast 
down by rebuke and slander, and then go into one's 
chamber and lay Rabshakeh's letter before the Lord, and 
to go down and feel more glad than a king of a hundred 
kingdoms, because we have been counted worthy to suffer 



68 Types and Emblems, 

reproach for Christ ; and there is a calm within us more 
deep and profound than before. And, mark you, if it has 
been so with us individually, it has been no less so with the 
church. Remember the clear shining after rain in the 
apostles' times, " Then had the churches rest, and walk- 
ing in the fear of God, were multiplied. " Those little 
seasons of hush and calm, between the great persecu- 
tions, have always been prolific of converts. I hope 
in the midst of successive controversies which darken 
the sky overhead, that when the rain is over, and the 
noise and trouble it costs some tender spirits has ceased, 
and the powers of darkness have been hushed to sleep 
once more, we may have some clear shining after rain, 
and brotherly fellowship once again be renewed. The 
day cometh when the great battle of Armageddon shall 
be fought; when the powers of darkness shall 
be roused to frenzy's highest pitch; when hell shall 
be loosed, and the great dragon shall be permitted 
to come upon the earth, trailing its chain along in 
the supremacy of its hour — then, when dreadful war 
shall come upon the earth, when nations shall reel 
and stagger to and fro, the Lord himself shall descend 
from heaven with a shout, with the trump of the 
archangel and the voice of God, and there shall 
be clear shining after the rain. And then, when the 
flames shall have consumed this orb, when judgment 
shall have been passed, when death and hell shall have 
been cast into the lake of fire, when all the powers 
of evil shall have been utterly destroyed before the 
majesty of his coming who shall overturn them, that his 
kingdom may be established in heaven, everlasting hal- 
lelujahs, " For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth," 



Royal Emblems for Loyal Subjects. 69 

shall bear witness that there is clear shining after the 
rain: for so it must be in the little as the great, in 
the experience of the individual as in that of the 
multitude ; there must be a rain, and there must be 
the clear shining after it, and the two together shall 
bring forth a matchless harvest, to the praise and 
glory of his grace, who worketh all things according 
to the counsel of his own will. 

Ask ye, now, why is it that God giveth to his people 
sweet seasons just after the bitter ? 

One reason is to take the taste of the bitter out of their 
mouth. Even as to our little children, when they take 
their nauseous medicine, we give some sweetmeat ; so 
doth the Lord often, when he cometh to his little ones, 
give them such sweet honey of his grace that they forget 
their sufferings in the sweet nectar which he vouchsafeth 
them. Another reason, no doubt, is lest they should 
be utterly destroyed by the terror of his judgment. 
" He tempereth the wind to the shorn lamb j" but, better 
than that, he taketh it to his bosom, and when it lieth 
there little doth it know that but for the rain and the 
tempest it had not laid in his bosom, and been fondled 
there so tenderly. He put it there lest it should perish. 

Then, again, he doth it as a sweet reward of faith. He 
seeth thee in trouble bravely struggling with the tempest, 
and saith : " I will reward that man." He seeth thee 
following him in the garden, still clinging to him amidst 
all the darkness and temptation ; and, therefore, he 
saith : " I will give to that soul such joy, by-and-by, 
that it shall be well rewarded for its faithfulness to me 
in the past." 

Is it not to prepare you for the future that, in looking 



70 Types and Emblems. 

back, you may say, " The last time I had trouble 
there was clear shining after the rain, and so I feel i' 
will be next time "? Ah, thou timid one, there is a trial 
coming ; it looms over thy head. What ! and didst 
thou behave valiantly for thy Master in former times, 
and wilt thou be a coward now ? Ah, my brother, 
thinkest thou there is a time of ruin threatening thee, 
and thou sayest : " His mercy is clean gone for ever ; 
he will be faithful to me no more." Oh, wherefore dost 
thou say that? Doth my Lord deserve it? Hath he 
been with thee in six troubles ? — why should he forsake 
thee in the seventh ? He that hath helped thee hitherto 
will surely help thee to the end. Wherefore hath he 
delivered thee in the tempest, if he means to let thee 
sink at last? No; by the kindness of the past, the 
love experienced in former days, let thy faith put out its 
great sheet anchor and outride the storm, for there shall 
again be " Clear shining after the rain." 

And, surely, these changeful seasons of ours, and that 
constant ordinance of his, ought to make us sick of 
self and fond of him. He putteth gall on the world, 
and he putteth honey on his own lips ; so that we may 
eschew the one and love the other. We are so fond of 
this world that we must be drawn away from it : and 
when we are drawn away from it, and enticed to him, 
our foolish hearts come to know his value, and we yield 
ourselves up to him. 

I cannot tell to whom this sermon is addressed. I am 
sure it has a mission to fulfil. O brothers and sisters, 
it may be that these words may be worth a mine of gold 
to some of you, as a clear shining after rain. If they 
reach thy case, do thank my Master for it. He may 



Royal Emblems for Loyal Subjects. 71 

have a harvest from thy soul yet. Be sure that ye give 
him the firstfruits of the harvest. When there is clear 
shining after the rain, honour him more, serve him 
better, give more to his cause, pray more for his people, 
live more in his fear, commune more with him, and walk 
more closely to him. Let it be true that in thy case, as 
in that of this round world, the rain and the clear 
shining after it have brought forth their abundant fruit. 
When you and I shall get to heaven, we will talk on its 
green and flowery mounts of all the showers through 
which we passed, and of the clear shining: and, in the 
sacred high eternal noon, which shall be our portion 
ever, we shall, with transporting joys, recount the 
labours of the past, and sing of the clear shining after 
the rain. 

How sad the thought that there is no " Clear shining 
after rain " for some of you. There is a rain of trouble 
in reserve for you — that you know ; there will be 
more troubles yet in this life ; there is a heavy shower 
coming yet in death, and then it shall rain for ever, and 
there shall be a horrible tempest — that is your portion. 
If ye believe not that Jesus is Christ, and trust not your 
souls to him, all the woe you have ever known is as nothing; 
it is but the first spattering of the drops on the pavement ; 
it is nothing compared with the storm which shall beat 
upon your head — your unsheltered head, for ever and 
ever. But refuge is before thee, man ! . The sky is dark, 
the tempest lowers ; but the refuge is before thee. Run ! 
in God's name, run ! The storm comes hastening on, 
as if God were gathering up all his black artillery that he 
might discharge his dreadful thunders upon thee. Run ! 
" But can I enter V Yes, the door is open ; run ! " But 



72 Types and Emblems. 

may I enter ? ,J Yes, he invites thee : " Come unto me, 
yea, come unto me — come this night — trust me/' he 
says, " and I will save thy soul/' " But I am un- 
worthy." Well, see the tempest ! Run ! Let thine 
unworthiness put feathers to thy feet, and not stop thee 
in thy haste. Jesus calls thee from his throne in heaven ; 
he invites thee : u Come unto me, all ye that labour and 
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." " The Spirit 
and the bride say, Come ; and let him that heareth 
say, Come." Heaven and earth say, Come. Sinner, 
wilt thou avoid the tempest ? Wilt thou flee and find 
shelter in Christ ? God help thee to trust Christ now, 
and unto him shall be the glory, for ever and ever. 
Amen. 




i f ««3 t4 




" Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro r" — Job xiii. 25. 

OOR Job ! who could have been brought 
lower ? He had lost his possessions, his child- 
ren, his health ; he was covered with sore 
boils, and he was aggravated by the unkind 
speeches of his friends. In his deep distress 
he turns to God, and finding no other plea 
so near at hand he makes a plea of his 
own distress. He compares himself to the weakest 
thing he could think of, and then he says to God, the 
great and the merciful, " Wilt thou, so glorious in power 
and so matchless in goodness — wilt thou break me, who 
am like a poor leaf fallen from the tree, sere and dry, 
and driven to and fro in the wind ?" Thus he draws an 
argument out of his weakness. Because he is so low and 
insignificant and powerless he lays hold upon the divine 
strength and pleads for pity. 

It is a common figure he uses, that of a leaf driven to 
and fro. Strong gusts of wind, it may be in the autumn 
when the leaves hang but lightly upon the trees, send 
them falling in showers around us ; quite helpless to stay 
their own course, fluttering in the air to and fro, like 



74 Types and Emblems. 

winged birds that could not steer themselves, but are 
guided by every fitful blast that blew upon them, at last 
they sink into the mire, to be trodden down and forgotten. 
To these Job likens himself — a helpless, hopeless, worth- 
less, weak, despised, perishing thing ; and he appeals to 
the awful Majesty on high, and he says to the God of 
thunder and of lightning, " Wilt thou put out thy power 
to destroy me ? Wilt thou bring forth thy dread artillery 
to crush such an insignificant creatoe as I am ? W r ith all 
the goodness of thy great heart — for thy name is God, 
that is good — wilt thou turn thy Almighty power against 
me ? Oh, that be far from thee ! Out of pity upon my 
utter weakness and nothingness, turn away thy hand, 
and break not a leaf that is driven to and fro \" 

The apprehension is so startling, the appeal so forcible, 
that the argument may be employed in a great manv 
■ways. How often have the sick used it, when they have 
been brought to so low an ebb with physical pain that life 
itself seemed worthless ! Stricken with disease, stung 
with smart, and fretted with acute pangs, they felt that 
if the affliction continued much longer, it were better 
for them to die than live. They longed for the shades 
of death, that they might find shelter there. Turning 
their face to the wall, they have said, " O God, so weak 
as I am, wilt thou again smite me ? Shall thy hand 
again fall upon me? Thou hast laid me very low. 
Wherefore again dost thou lift up thy rod? Break not, 
I beseech thee, a leaf that is driven to and fro ! " 

Not less applicable the plea to those who are plunged 
into the depths of poverty ! A man is in trouble arising 
from destitution ; perhaps he has been long out of work ; 
bread is not to be found ; the children are crying, 



A Frail Leaf. 75 

hungering, starving ; the habitation has been stripped of 
everything which might procure a little nourishment. 
The poor wretch, after passing through seas of trouble, 
finds himself no nearer a landing-place than before, but 

" Sees each day new straits attend, 
And wonders where the scene will end." 

Passing through the streets he is hardly able to keep 
his feet from the pavement or his skin from the cold, 
by reason of his tattered garments. Homeless and 
friendless, life a leaf that is driven to and fro, he 
says, " O God! wilt thou continue this much longer? 
Wilt thou not be pleased to stay thy rough wind, 
mitigate the sharpness of the winter, ease my adversity, 
and give me peace ? " 

So, too, with those who are in trouble through bereave- 
ment. One child has been taken away, and then another. 
The shafts of death flew twice. Then came sickness 
with threatening omen upon one that was nearer and 
dearer still. Still did not the desolation stay its gloomy 
portents. It seemed at length as though the widow would 
be bereft of her last and only child, and then she cried, " O 
God ! I am already broken ; my heart is like a ploughed 
field, cross-ploughed, till my soul is ready to despair ! 
Wilt thou utterly break me ? Wilt thou spare me no 
consolations, no props for my old age ? Must I be alto- 
gether driven away before the whirlwind, and find no 
rest?" 

Perhaps it is even more harassing in cases of mental 
distress, for, after all, the sharpest pangs we feel are not 
those of the body, nor those of the estate, but those of 
the mind. When the iron enters into the soul, the rust 
thereof is poison. " The spirit of a man will sustain his 



76 Types and Emblems, 

infirmity, but a wounded spirit who can bear ? You 
may be surrounded with all the comforts of life, and yet 
be in wretchedness more gloomy than death if the spirits 
be depressed. You may have no outward cause what- 
ever for sorrow, and yet if the mind be dejected, the 
brightest sunshine will not relieve your gloom. At 
such a time, you may be vexed with cares, haunted 
with dreams, and scared with thoughts which distract 
you. You fear that your sins are not pardoned, that 
your past transgressions are brought to remembrance, 
and that punishment is being meted out to you in full 
measure. The threatenings rise up out of God's book, 
and seem to lift sharp swords in their hands with which 
to smite you. Time is dreadful to you, because you 
know it is hurrying you to eternity ; and the thought 
of eternity stings as doth an adder, because you measure 
the future reckoning by the present distress. At such 
a time, Avhen you are faint with longing, ready to despair, 
driven to the verge of madness, I can imagine your 
crying out, " O Lord God of mercy, I am as a leaf that 
is driven to and fro; wilt thou quite break me, and 
utterly destroy me? Have compassion, and show thy 
favour to thy poor broken creature V 

Many a child of God may have used this, and if he 
has not used it yet, still he may use it. There are times 
when all our evidences get clouded, and all our joys are 
red. Though we may still cling to the cross, yet it is 
with a desperate grasp. God brings our sins to remem- 
brance, till our bones, as David puts it, " are sore broken 
by reason of our iniquity." Then it is that, all-broken, 
we can turn to the Strong for strength, and use the plea 
of the text, " Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro?" 



A Frail Leaf. 77 

and we shall get for our answer these comforting words, 
" A bruised reed he will not break, and smoking flax he 
will not quench." 

I. The plea is such as arises from inward con- 
sciousness. 

What plea is more powerful to ourselves than that 
which we draw from ourselves? A man may not be 
sure of aught that is without him, for eyes and ears may 
deceive; but he is always pretty well assured of any- 
thing within. him, for that which he perceives in his own 
consciousness he is very tenacious about. Now, in this 
case, Job was quite certain about his own weakness. How 
could he doubt that? He looked upon his poor body 
covered with sores, he looked upon his friends who had 
perplexed and vexed him so much, and he felt that he 
was, indeed, just like a sere leaf. I do trust that many 
of us have been brought by God the Holy Spirit into 
such an humble frame of mind as to feel that, in a 
certain sense, this is true of us : " O God, if we know 
ourselves aright, we are all like withered leaves ; we once 
thought ourselves fresh and green ; we reckoned that 
we were as good as others, so we made a fine and verdant 
profession ; but, lo ! thou hast been pleased to deal with 
us, and all the fresh verdure of what we thought to be 
our piety — the natural piety which we thought we 
possessed — has faded and withered, and now we are con- 
vinced that we are altogether as an unclean thing, and 
that all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. Nay, the 
hope that we clung to as the leaf clings to the tree, we 
have had to give up. We are blown away from that. We 
were once upon the tree of good works ; we seemed as if 
we had life, and should always be happy there, but the 



78 Types and Emblems. 

winds have taken us away, and we cannot hold on to our 
hope. We once thought that we could do everything; 
we now perceive that without Christ we can do nothing. 
"We are cast forth as a branch separated from the vine; 
we are withered. What can a leaf do ? What power 
has it to resist the wind? Just so we feel now; we 
can do nothing ; even the sin that dwelleth in us, 
like the wind, carrieth us away ; and we are like the 
leaf in the wind, subject to its power. 

O, my brethren, what a great blessing it is to be 
made to know our weakness. To empty the sinner of 
his folly, his vanity and conceit is no easy matter. 
Christ can easily fill him with wisdom and prudence, 
but to get him empty — this is the work; this is the 
difficulty. To make a man know that he is in himself 
utterly lost, ruined, and undone; this is the Spirit of 
God's own work. We ministers cannot make a man 
see that, however diligently we may point it out ; only 
the Spirit of God can enlighten the heart to discern it; 
and yet, until a man does see it, he cannot enter into the 
kingdom of heaven, for there are none within the pearly 
gates who were not once broken-hearted sinners. Who 
could come there and sing, " Unto Him who loved us, 
and washed us from our sins in his blood," but those 
who once said, " Pardon mine iniquity, for it is great 9t ? 

While it is a confession of weakness, it is also an 
acknowledgment of God 's power to push that weakness to 
a direful conclusion. " Wilt thou break me?" says the 
text — " Lord, thou canst do it. In one minute thou 
couldst take away hope from every one of us now in 
this house of prayer." Some there be who are in the 
house of doom, where prayer can never be answered, 



A Frail Leaf. 79 

and where mercy's proclamation can never be heard. 
God could break us. It is an easy thing for him to 
destroy ; and more, he is not only able, but he has the 
right to do it if he wills, for we are such worthless 
creatures through oar disobedience, that we may say, in 
the words of the hymn — 

" If my soul were sent to hell, 

Thy righteous law approves it well." 

When we feel this, then let us make a proper use of 
our own consciousness, not to despond and faint, but to 
arise and go to our Father, so we shall come to God and 
say, " Thou canst destroy me; thou mayst destroy me 
justly, and I cannot resist thee, I cannot save myself 
from thy vengeance, nor can I merit anything at thy 
hand ; I am as weak as water, and altogether as perishing 
a thing as a poor withered leaf; but wilt thou destroy 
me ? I plead for pity. Oh ! have pity upon me ! O 
God, let thy bowels yearn towards me, and show me thy 
great compassion ! I have heard that thou delightest 
in mercy; and as Ben-hadad of old, with the rope about 
his neck, sent in unto the king, and confessed that he 
deserved to die, so do I confess ; and as the king for- 
gave him, even so do thou with me — a guilty culprit 
trembling in thy presence ! 

" Show pity, Lord ; O Lord, forgive ; 
Let a repenting rebel live." 

II. This is also a very pitiful plea. 

Though there is weakness, yet there is also power, for 
weakness is, for the most part, a prevalent plea with 
those who are strong and good. You could not see on 
your road home to-night a poor fainting woman, and 



80 Types and Emblems. 

pass her by, I trust. You could not have brought in 
before your presence a half- starved child, that could not 
drag its weary limbs along, without feeling that you must 
give relief. The mere sight of weakness draws pity. 
As a certain town was being sacked, one of the rough 
soldiery is said to have spared a little child, because it 
said, " Please, sir, don't kill me, I am so little." The 
rough warrior felt the cogency of the plea. You may 
yourselves just plead thus with God. " Q God, do not 
destroy me ! I deserve it, but oh, I am so little ! 
Turn thy power upon some greater thing, and let thy 
bowels move with compassion towards me ! ", 

The plea gathers force when the weakness is confessed. 
If a man shall have done you some wrong, and shall 
come and acknowledge it, and bow down before you and 
confess it, why, then you feel that you cannot take him 
by the throat, but you say, " Rise, I have forgiven thee \" 
When weakness appeals to strength for protection, and 
confession of guilt is relied on as an argument for mercy, 
those who are good and strong are pretty sure to be 
moved with compassion. 

But, best of all, going from the positive to the com- 
parative, and from the comparative to the superlative, 
how a confession of weakness touches your heart when it 
comes from your child. If your child has been chastised, 
and has confessed his wrong, and pleads with you, how 
you stay your hand ! Or, if the child be sick, and some- 
thing be done to it which pains it, if while the operation 
is being performed he should look you in the face, and 
say, " Father, spare thy child ; I can bear no more V you 
have already felt more than you can make him feel; 
forthwith your own tears blind you, and you stay your 



A Frail Leaf, 81 

Innd. " Like as a father pitieth his children, even so 
the Lord pitieth them that fear him." If you have faith 
to bring your weakness before God with the sense of a 
child towards him, you surely must prevail. Come, 
then, you timid trembling children of your Father who 
is in heaven, use this plea — " Wilt thou break a leaf 
that is driven to and fro ?" 

III. This PLEA IS RIGHTLY ADDRESSED. 

It is addressed to God. As I thought it over, it 
seemed to me as if I could use it to each Person of the 
Blessed Trinity in Unity. Looking up to the great 
Father of our spirits, from whom every good and perfect 
gift cometh down, it seemed to me that out of weakness 
I could say to Him, " Wilt thou, whose name is Father, 
wilt thou break a leaf that is driven to and fro ? Thou 
art the God that made us; wilt thou utterly destroy 
the earthen vessel which thou hast fashioned on the 
wheel? Thy name is c Preserver of men/ wilt thou 
annihilate us, and break us into shivers? Hast thou 
not revealed thyself as delighting in mercy ? Art thou 
not the ' Lord God, merciful and gracious, passing by 
iniquity, transgression, and sin'? Hast thou not said, 
' Come, now, and let us reason together ; though your 
sins be as scarlet they shall be as wool ; though they be 
red as crimson they shall be whiter than snow ?' God 
the Father of heaven, wilt thou break a leaf that is 
driven to and fro ?" 

And then, I thought I could address myself to the 
blessed Son of God, who is also our brother in human 
flesh, and say to him, Wilt thou break — O thou " faith- 
ful High Priest, touched with a feeling of our infirm- 
ities " — " bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh " — 

6 



$2 Types and Emblems. 

Brother of our soul, by whose stripes we are healed — 
wilt thou break a leaf that is driven to and fro ? Nay, 
by thy thorn-crowned head, and thy bloody sweat, by 
thy cross and passion, by thy wounds and by thy death - 
cry, thou canst not, wilt not be unmerciful and unkind. 
Surely, they who in confidence turn to thee, and lay hold 
upon thee, shall find that thy strength shall be ready 
to help: for though thine arm be strong to smite, it is 
no less strong to save. 

Again, it comes across me sweetly, " O blessed 
Spirit! couldst thou break a leaf that is driven to 
and fro ? Thou art no eagle ; thou didst descend on 
Christ in Jordan as a dove ; thine influences are soft 
and soothing. Thy name is ' The Comforter ' ; thou 
takest of the things of Christ, not to blast us, but to 
bless us therewith ; thou art not a destroying Spirit, but 
a quickening Spirit, not a terrifying but an enlivening 
Spirit ; wilt thou break a leaf that is driven to and fro ? " 

Yea, I address thee, thou Triune God, thou who art 
so full of mercy, and love, and grace, and truth, that 
those who have known thee best have been compelled 
to say, " Oh, how great is thy goodness which thou 
hastlaid up for them that fear thee ! Oh, the depths of 
thy lovingkindness ! " is it possible that thou canst 
cast away a poor, broken-hearted trembler, a poor, 
fearing, doubting one, who would fain be saved, but who 
trembles lest he should be cast away ? 

IV. This plea is backed up by many cases of 

SUCCESS. 

We will not give many, for we have not time ; but 
there is one case which we may mention : There was a 
woman whose life was exceedingly sorrowful. She was 



A Frail Leaf. 83 

an Eastern wife, and her husband had been foolish 
enough to have a second mistress in the house. The 
woman of whom we speak, a holy woman, a woman of 
refined and delicate mind, a poetess, indeed, of no mean 
order — this poor woman, having no children, was the con- 
stant butt of her rival, whose sneering spiteful remarks 
chaffed and chafed her. Her adversary, it is said, <( vexed 
her sore to make her -afraid." Though her husband was 
exceedingly kind to her, yet as with a sword that cut 
her bones did she go continually. She was a woman 
of a sorrowful spirit, her spirit being broken. Still, 
"she feared the Lord exceedingly," and. she went up 
to God's house, and it was in God's house that she 
received, what was to her, perhaps, the greatest blow of 
her life. If from her rival that she received the harshest 
word, it was from the High Priest of God that she 
received this hardest blow. As she stood there praying, 
using no vocal sound, but her lips moving, the High 
Priest — an easy soul, who had brought his own family to 
ruin by his easiness — little knowing her grief, told her 
that she was drunken. A woman to whom the thought 
of such a sin would have been bitter as gall, it must 
have smitten her as with the chill blast of death, that 
God's priest had said she was drunken. But, as you will 
all remember, the Lord did not break the leaf that was 
driven to and fro. To her there came a comfortable 
promise. Ere long that woman stood there to sing. 
The mercy of God had made the barren woman to 
rejoice, and to be the joyful mother of children. The 
song of the Virgin Mary was modelled after the song 
of Hannah — that memorable poem in which she sang 
of the Lord who had filled the hungry with good things, 



84 Types and Emblems. 

while the rich he had sent empty away. In that case 
the Lord did not break the leaf that was driven to and fro. 

In after years — to take an example of another kind — 
there was a king who had sinned desperately, slaying 
God's servants with both hands. But he was taken 
captive by a powerful monarch, and thrown into prison r 
such a noisome prison that he was among thorns, in 
mental as well as in material darkness. Then, troubled 
in spirit, tossed to and fro, and without power to help 
himself, Manasseh sought unto the Lord, and he found 
the Lord ; he prayed unto the Lord, and the Lord heard 
him. Out of the low dungeon he did not break the 
leaf that was driven to and fro. 

Take a later case, in our Saviour's time. The picture 
of those proud Pharisees hurrying into our Saviour's 
presence a poor fallen woman is even now in your mind's 
eye. Yes, sirs, she was taken in adultery. There was no 
doubt of it ; she was " taken in the very act," and there 
she stands — nay, she kneels, all covered with blushes 
— before the man who is asked to judge her. And 
you remember his words. He never said a word to 
excuse her guilt : the Saviour could not and would not 
condone her shame; nor would he, on the other hand, 
lend himself to crush the woman who had sinned ; 
but he said — "Where are those thine accusers? Go 
and sin no more ! " Let his words come unto thee, poor 
leaf, driven to and fro ! Oh, if there should be such a 
leaf as that driven here to-night, driven in, perhaps, by 
stress of weather ! Men despise you ; from your own 
sex you get faint pity ; but, Jesus, when thou art 
appealed to, thou wilt not break such a leaf that is driven 
to and fro ! 



A Frail Leaf. 85 

Shall I tell another story of the woman who came 
behind the Master in the press, and stole a cure by 
touching his garment ? She thought she should receive 
a curse, but he said — " Be thou of good cheer ; thy faith 
hath made thee whole ; go in peace/' It was poor faith : 
it is very like unbelief; but yet it was rewarded with a 
rich acceptance, for he will not break a leaf that is 
driven to and fro. 

V. Once more, my text is a faint plea which 

INVITES FULL SUCCOUR. 

"Wilt thou break a leaf that is driven to and fro?" 
O Job ! there is much wrapped up in what thou hast 
said. 

He meant this— " Instead of breaking it, thou wilt 
spare it ; thou wilt gather it up ; thou wilt give it life 
;again." It is like that text, " A bruised reed he will not 
break." Oh, it means more than that ; it means that he 
will heal its bruises. "A smoking flax he will not 
quench." That is good, but it means more. It means 
that he will stoop down to it, and that with his soft 
breath he will blow that smoking flax into a flame ; he 
will not let it go out ; he will preserve its heat, and 
make something more of it. O you, who are brought 
to the very lowest of weakness ! use that weakness in 
pleading with God, and he will return unto you with such 
a fulness of blessing that you shall receive the pardon of 
sin ; you shall be accepted through the righteousness of 
Christ ; you shall be dear to the heart of God ; you shall 
be filled with his Spirit ; you shall be blessed with all 
the fulness of God. 

My Lord is such a One that if a beggar asks a 
penny of him he gives him gold, and if you ask only 



SG Types and Emblems. 

for the pardon of sins, he will give you all the covenant 
blessing which he has been pleased so bounteously to 
provide for the necessities of his people. Come, poor 
guilty one, needy, helpless, broken, and bruised. Come 
thou by faith, and let thy weakness plead with God 
through Jesus Christ. 

VI. We may use tuts plea — Many or us who hate 

LONG KNOWN THE SAVIOUR. 

Perhaps our faith has got to be very low. O Lord r 
wilt thou destroy my little faith ? I know there is sin 
in it. To be so unbelieving as I am is no little crime ; 
but, Lord, I thank thee that I have any faith. It is 
weak and trembling, but it is faith of thine own giving. 
Oh, break not the poor leaf that is driven to and fro ! 

It may be your hope is not very bright. You 
cannot see the golden gates, though they are very 
near. Well, but your hope shall not be destroyed be- 
cause it is clouded. You can say, " Lord, wilt thou 
destroy my hope because it is dim ? " No, that he will 
not! 

Perhaps you are conscious that you have not been 
so useful lately as you once -were, but you may say, 
" Lord, wilt thou destroy my usefulness because I have 
been laid aside, or have not done what I ought to have 
done in thy service ? " Bring your little graces to Christ 
as the mothers brought their little children, and ask him 
to put his hands upon them and to bless them. Bring- 
your mustard-seed to Christ, and ask him to make it 
grow into a tree, and he will do it ; but never think 
that he will destroy you, or that he will destroy the 
works of his own hand in you. 

Oh ! that I could so preach as to give the comfort to- 






A Frail Leaf, 87 

you which I have felt in my own soul while musing 
over these words ! I wish that some who feel how lost, 
how empty, and how ruined they are, could now believe 
in the great and the good heart of my Lord Jesus Christ. 
Little do they know how glad he will be to save them. 
You will be glad to be saved ; but he will be more glad 
to save you. You will be thankful to sit at the feast; 
but, of all that come to the banquet, there is no heart so 
glad as the heart of the king. When the king came in 
to see the guests, I know there were gleams of joy in 
his face which were not to be found in the faces of any 
of the guests. He has the joy of benevolence. Perhaps 
you have sometimes felt a thrill of pleasure when you 
have done some good to your poor fellow-creatures. 
Now, bethink ye what must be the joy of Christ, tho 
joy of the Father, and the joy of the Holy Spirit — the 
joy of doing good to those who do not deserve it, the 
joy of bestowing favours upon the wicked and the un- 
thankful, the joy of showing that he doeth good because 
he is good — not because you are good, but because he 
is good ; thus the Lord God will overleap the mountains 
of your sins and your prejudices, and the rivers of your 
iniquities, that he may come unto you and display the 
full tide of his lovingkindness and his tender mercy. 

Oh ! that some might be now for the first time drawn 
to Jesus, put their trust in him, and find pardon and 
peace. 



ffe %tlMi 




And for a helmet, the hope of salvation." — 1 Thess. v. S. 

HE very mention of a helmet may well serve 

to REMIND EVERY CHRISTIAN THAT HE IS A 
SOLDIER. 

I. If yon were not soldiers, you would net 
need armour ; but, being soldiers, you need 
to be clad from head to foot in armour of 
proof. I suppose every Christian knows, 
as a matter of theory, that he is a Christian soldier, 
and that he has been enlisted under the banner of 
the cross, to fight against the powers of darkness 
until he wins the victory. But, we all need to have 
our memories refreshed upon this matter, for soldier- 
ing in time of Avar, at any rate, is not a very pleasant 
occupation, and the flesh constantly attempts to give it 
over. That u we have no abiding city here " is a truth 
we all admit, and yet the most of us try to make the 
earth as comfortable to ourselves as if it were to be our 
abiding residence. We are all soldiers, we know that ; 
but, still, too many Christians act as if they could be the 
friends of the world and the friends of God at the same 
time. Now, Christian, recollect once for all that you 



The Helmet 89 

are a soldier. Did you dream, young man, that as soon 
as you were baptised, and added to the church, the con- 
flict was all over ? Ah, it was then but just beginning. 
Like Coesar, you then crossed the Rubicon, and declared 
war against your deadly enemy. You drew your sword 
then ; you did not sheathe it. Your proper note on 
joining the church is not one of congratulation, as though 
the victory were won, but one of preparation ; for now 
the trumpet sounds, and the fight begins. You are a 
soldier at all times, Christian. You ought to sit even 
at your table as a soldier sits, and you should go out, 
especially into the world, as a soldier goes out. Never 
take off your armour, for if you do, in some unguarded 
moment you may meet with serious wounds. But, keep 
your armour ever about you, and be watchful, for you 
are always in the midst of enemies wherever you may be. 
Even when the persons who surround you are your 
friends, there are still evil spirits unseen of men who 
watch for your halting. You must not put up your 
sword, for you are to wrestle against principalities, and 
powers, and spiritual wickedness in high places ; against 
these you must ever be on the watch. You are a 
soldier, man; remember that. 

Nor are you a soldier in barracks, or at home, but 
you are a soldier in an enemy's country. Your place is 
either in the trenches or else in the thick of the battle. 
You who are sick are like soldiers in the trenches. You 
are patiently hoping and quietly waiting, as it were, 
upon the ramparts, looking for the time to come. But, 
others of you, out in business and engaged in the con- 
cerns of life, are like soldiers marching in long fde to 
the conflict, like the horsemen dashing on to the front 



>0 Types and Emblems. 



ira- 



of the battle. More or less, according to your circura 
stances, you are all exposed to the foe, and that at every 
period of life. 

Where are you, let me ask, but in the country of an 
enemy who never gives any quarter ? If you fall, it is 
death. The world never forgives the Christian ; it hates 
him with a perfect hatred, and it longs to do him ill. 
Only let the world see you commit half a trip, and they 
will soon report and magnify it. What might be done 
by other men without observation, if it were done by a 
Christian, would be noticed, reported, and misrepre- 
sented. The world understands that you are its natural 
antagonist. Satan perceives in you a representative of 
his old enemy the Lord Jesus, and you may rest assured 
that he will never give you quarter if once he gets an 
opportunity of destroying you. Mind the enemy, mind 
the enemy, for he is one of a malicious spirit. 

You have to fight with one too who never yet made a 
truce. You may come to terms and parley, but the 
powers of evil never do. You may hang out the white 
flag if you like. The foe may seem for a time as though 
he gave you credit, but do you never give your foe anjr 
credit. He hates you when he seems to love you best. 
" Dread the Greeks, even when they bring you gifts/' 
said the tradition of old ; and let the Christian dread 
the world most when it puts on its softest speeches. 
Stand, then, upon your guard, ye warriors of the cross ; 
when least you fear, the cringing foe will come behind 
you, and stab you, under the pretence of friendship. 
Your Master was betrayed with a kiss, and so will you 
be, unless you watch unto prayer. 

You have to do with an enemy ivho never can make 



The Helmet. 91 

any peace with you, nor can you ever make any peace 
with him. If you become at peace with sin, sin has 
conquered you ; and it is impossible, unless you give' 
up the fight, and yield your neck to everlasting 
thraldom, that there should ever be peace for so much 
as a moment. O Christian, see how guarded you 
ought to be. How needful to be clothed with your 
armour ! How needful to have it of the right kind, to- 
keep it bright, and to wear it constantly ! You are a 
soldier, a soldier in battle, a soldier in the foeman's- 
country, a soldier with a cruel and malicious enemy, 
who knows neither truce nor parley, and who gives no- 
quarter, but will fight with you till you die. Heaven 
is the land where your sword should be sheathed ; there 
shall you hang the banner high, but here we wrestle with 
the foe, and must do so till we cross the torrent of death. 
Right up to the river's edge must the conflict be waged. 
Foot by foot, and inch by inch, must all the land to 
Canaan's happy shore be won. Not a seep can be taken 
without conflict and strife ; but, once there, you may lay 
aside your helmet, and put on your crown ; put away 
your sword, and take your palm-branch; your fingers 
shall no longer need to learn to war, but your hearts 
shall learn the music of the happy songsters in the skies. 
This then is the first thought — you are a soldier. 

II. The second thought is this — being a soldier 

LOOK TO YOUR HEAD. 

Soldiers, look to your heads. A wound in the head 
is a serious matter. The head being a vital part, we 
need to be well protected there. The heart needs to- 
be guarded with the breastplate, but the head needs to 
be protected quite as much ; for even if a man should 



9.2 Types and Emblems. 

be true-hearted, yet, if a shot should go through his 
brain, he would not be worth much as a soldier ; his 
body would strew the plain. The head must be taken 
care of. A great many Christian people never trouble 
themselves about defending their heads at all. If they 
get their hearts warmed by their religion they think 
that quite enough. Well ; give me above everything 
else a good warm heart; but, oh, do have that warm 
heart coupled with a head that is well taken care of. 
Do you know that with a hot head and a hot heart 
together you may do a deal of mischief, but with a hot 
heart and a cool brain you may do a world of service 
to the Master. Have right doctrine in the head, and 
then set the soul on fire, and you will soon win the 
world. There is no standing in that man's way whose 
head and heart are both right, but to neglect, the head 
has been a serious mischief with many Christians. They 
have been almost powerless for usefulness because they 
have not taken care of their brains. Though they have 
got to heaven, they have not gained many victories on 
the road, because their brains have been out of order. 
They have never been able clearly to understand the 
doctrines ; they have not been able to give a reason for 
the hope that is in them ; they have not, in fact, looked 
well to the helmet which was to cover their heads. 

The text refers us to our head because it speaks of a 
helmet, and a helmet is of no use to any part except 
the head. Among other reasons why we should pre- 
serve the head in the day of battle, let us give these. 
The head is peculiarly liable to the temptations of 
Satan, of self, and of fame. It is not easy, you know, 
to stand on a high pinnacle without the brain beginning 



The Helmet. 93- 

to reel ; and if God takes a man, and puts him on a 
high pinnacle of usefulness, lie had need to have his 
head taken care of. If a brother is possessed of a 
considerable amount of wealth, there is great danger to 
his soul by reason of his possessions, unless he have a 
wealth of grace as well as a wealth of gold. If a man is 
well reported of, though his sphere may not be very large, 
yet, if everybody praises him, he also will need to have 
his head well protected, for a little praise would soon 
make him giddy. The clapping of hands of fools would 1 
be enough for a fool to pique himself on. The fining- 
pot for silver, and praise for the man. If a man can 
stand commendation, he can stand anything. The 
severest trial which a zealous Christian has to bear is,. 
probably, the trial which comes from his kind but incon- 
siderate friends, who would puff him up if they could by 
telling him what a fine fellow he is. If your friends 
without will not cheer you, you wall probably find a 
friend within who will flatter you to your heart's content ; 
and, if you should forget to ask for your meed, the devil 
will remind you that it is your due. " What a capital 
sermon you gave us this morning, Mr. Bunyan," said a 
friend, where John had been preaching. " You are too- 
late," said Bunyan, " the devil told me that before I came 
out of the pulpit." Yes, and he will be sure to do so ; 
and hence the need of having a helmet to put on the head,, 
that when you are successful, and getting on in life, 
and friends are speaking well of you, you may not 
get intoxicated with it. Oh, to have a good, cool hel- 
met to put on your brain when it begins to get a little 
hot with praise, so that you may still stand fast, and 
not be borne down by vanity. O Vanity, Vanity^ 



94 Types and Emblems. 

Vanity, how many hast thou slain ! How many who 
seemed upon the very brink of greatness have stumbled 
upon this stumbling stone ! Men who seemed as though 
they would enter heaven, but a little bit of honour, some 
glittering bribe, a golden boon, has turned them aside, 
and they fell. Take care of your heads, brethren. 

And is not the head liable to attacks from scepticism ? 
People who have no brains are not often troubled 
with doubts, but people who have brains have probably 
felt that, whether they resolved to use them or not, 
their brains would use themselves. It was very good of 
our good fathers to tell us not to read dangerous books, 
very good of them indeed ; but, we do read them, for 
all that; and, though we tell the young folks sometimes 
not to read this and that heretical treatise, and we 
wish they would take our advice, yet, somehow or other, 
they do get hold of such things, and will ponder them. 
Brethren, I do believe that, in such times as these, 
when everything is so free, and when discussion is so 
common, we must expect that our young fellows will 
look at a great many things which they had better 
leave alone, and their heads will be endangered thereby, 
for the bullets of scepticism threaten to go right 
through their brains. Well, what then ? As we cannot 
take Christians out of the way of the bullets, we should 
give them a helmet to preserve them therefrom. He who 
has a hope of salvation — a good hope that he is himself 
saved, a hope that he shall see the face of Christ with joy 
at last — is not afraid of any of the paltry quibbles of 
scepticism. He may hear them all, and for a moment 
be staggered by them, as a soldier might be who had a 
sudden shock or even a wound, but after a little while 



The Helmet. 95 

lie recovers himself, and feels sound enough to enter into 
the conflict again. Thus the Christian in armour proof 
;can say — 

"Should all the forms that men devise 
Assault my faith with treacherous art ; 
I'd call them vanity and lies, 

And bind the gospel to my heart." 

It has been very well observed that a man is not often 
ti very thorough democrat after he gets a little money in 
the savings-bank. Well, I think it is very likely, so 
soon as a man gets a little stake in his country's welfare, 
he begins to be just to the merest extent conservative. 
And, no sooner does a man get a stake in Christianity, 
and feel, that he has got salvation in Jesus Christ, than 
he gets to be very, very conservative of the old-fashioned 
truth. He cannot give up the Bible then, because it is 
a broad land of wealth to him. He cannot give up 
Christ, for he is his Saviour, his salvation. He cannot 
give up a single promise, because that promise is so dear 
to his own soul. The helmet of salvation, then, will 
preserve the head in times of scepticism. 

The head, again, is very greatly in danger from the 
attacks of personal unbelief. Who among us has not 
doubted his own interest in Christ ? Happy for you who 
are free from such distractions. But, there are seasons 
with some of us when we turn our title-deeds over, and 
we are sometimes afraid lest they should not be genuine. 
There are times when, if we could, we would give a 
world to know that we are Christ's, for we cannot 

" Read our title clear 
To mansions in the skies." 



96 Types and Emblems. 

"Well, beloved, this is very dangerous to our heads ; but 
the man who has got the helmet of aright, sound, God- 
given hope of salvation, who has received, from God the 
Holy Spirit such a helmet as I am going to describe bv- 
and-by, may be of good cheer. These doubts and fears 
may distress him for a little while, but he knows the 
precautions advised for his safeguard, as he is neither 
timid nor rash. In the midst of Satan's accusations, the 
uprising of his old corruptions, the infirmities of the flesh, 
and the allurements of the world, he stands calm and 
unmoved, because he wears as a helmet the hope of 
salvation. 

Nor are these all the dangers to which the head is 
exposed. Some persons are attacked by threatening^ 
from the world. The world brings down its double- 
handled sword with a tremendous blow upon the heads 
of many Christians. " You will suffer the loss of all 
things for Christ if you are such a fanatic as to believe 
the Bible and consort with the saints. You will be poor 
yourself, your children will want bread, your wife will 
be worse than a widow, if you are such a fool." "Ah, 
says the Christian, " but I have a hope of salvation." 
So the blow, when it comes, does not go through his 
head, but just falls on the helmet, and the world's 
sword gets blunted. " I can afford to be poor," said 
Dr. Gill, when one of his subscribers threatened to 
give up his seat, and would not attend, if the doctor 
preached such-and-such a doctrine. So says the Chris- 
tian, " I can afford to be poor ; I can afford to be 
despised ; I have in heaven a better and more enduring 
substance." So, by the use of this blessed helmet, he 
is protected from the threatenings of the world. 



The Helmet. 97 

We want our young people to wear this helmet, too, 
because of the errors of the times." The errors of the 
times are many. What with scepticism, and with super- 
stition, they are tempted on the one side and on the 
other. This and that new book or old fable is cried up. 
" Lo here," and " Lo there." By unscrupulous authors 
and by designing priests there will be many misled who 
are not the people of God. " If it were possible, they 
would deceive the very elect." But the elect are not to be 
deceived. Their heads are not vulnerable to these errors, 
for they wear the hope of salvation, and they are not 
afraid of all the "isms" or schisms that aggrieve the 
professor and aggravate the profane. The man knows 
he is saved. Once get to know Christ personally for 
yourselves, to believe that he loved you and gave him- 
self for you, and to rejoice that you are forgiven and 
justified through him, then, though the world will count 
you stupid and obstinate, you will stand firm, and be 
able to resist all its sarcasm and its ridicule. He who 
has made a refuge of Jesus Christ will stand safe what- 
ever errors may invade the land. 

They tell us that the Church of God is in great danger, 
because Popery will overspread the country. Peradven- 
ture it should ; that it will overspread the Church of 
God — no ; I know far better than that. The Church of 
God never can be in danger. Every man in whom is 
the life of God would be as ready to die to-morrow for 
the truth as our forefathers were in the Marian days. 
Rest assured there would be found men to stand at the 
burning fagot still if the times required them, and our 
prisons would not long be without heavenly-minded 
tenants if the truth needed to be defended by suffering, 

7 



98 Types and Emblems. 

even unto death. There is danger, great danger ; there 
never was such danger in modern times of Popery over- 
spreading the land as now. But there is no danger to 
the man who has his helmet on. Let the arrows fly 
thick as hail, and let the foes have all the political power 
that they can, and all the prestige of antiquity that they 
may ; a little phalanx of true-hearted Christians will 
still stand their ground in the very centre of the on- 
slaught, and cut their way to glory and to victory 
through whole hosts, because their heads are guarded 
with the heavenly helmet of the hope of salvation. 
Soldiers of Christ, take care of your heads. 

III. God has provided a covering for your heads, 
let us therefore now consider the helmet with which 
He would have your heads protected. 

" The hope of salvation V 3 This is not the hope we 
sometimes speak about, the hope that salvation is 
possible which may encourage every sinner to knock, to 
seek, to ask — yea, to pray importunately for mercy. 
This helmet is made up of an actual hope that, being 
already saved in Christ Jesus, you should abide unto 
eternal life. It is a personal hope, founded upon per- 
sonal conviction, and is wrought in us by the Holy 
Spirit. 

To begin, then, describing this helmet. Who is its 
giver ? You ask our friend the soldier where he gets his 
regimentals from, and he answers that he gets them 
from the government stores. He gets his regimentals 
from Her Majesty, and from the monarch himself we 
must get our helmets. If any of you construct helmets 
of hope for yourselves, they will be of no use to you in the 
day of battle. The true helmet of hope must come from 



The Helmet. 99 

the heavenly arsenal. You must go to the Divine store- 
house, for unto God belongeth salvation, and the hope 
of salvation must be given to you by his free grace. 
A hope of salvation is not purchasable. Our great King 
does not sell his armour, but gives it freely to all 
who enlist. They take the bounty and accept the faith. 
They trust Christ, and they are enlisted, then the armour 
is given them gratis. From head to foot they are arrayed 
by grace. 

Do you ask, who is the maker of this helmet f Wea- 
pons are valued often according to the maker. A known 
maker gets his own price for his articles. Armourers 
of old took much trouble with the ancient helmets, 
because a man's life might depend upon that valuable 
means of defence. So we have here the name of God 
the Holy Ghost upon this helmet. A hope of salvation is 
the work of God the Holy Spirit in our soul. It is 
the Spirit who brings us to Jesus, shows us our need of 
him, and gives us faith in him ; and it is that same Spirit 
who enables us to hope that we shall endure to the end, 
and enter into eternal life. Be not satisfied with a hope 
which is natural, but have a hope that is supernatural. 
Rest not satisfied with that which is made in the work- 
shop of nature ; go not to those who buy and sell for 
themselves, but go to the blessed Spirit, who giveth 
freely, and upbraideth not. 

Would you inquire further, of what metal this helmet 
is made ? It is made of hope, we are told ; but it is of 
the utmost consequence that it be a good hope. Beware 
of getting a base hope, a helmet made of paltry metal. 
There were some helmets they used to wear in the olden 
times which looked very well, but they were of no 



100 Types and Emblems. 






more use than brown paper hats ; and when a soldier 
got into the fight with one of these on, the sword 
went through his skull. Get a good helmet, one made 
of the right metal. This is what a Christian's hope 
is made of — he believes that Christ came into the world 
to save sinners ; he trusts Christ to save him ; and he 
hopes that when Christ comes he shall reign with him ; 
that when the trumpet sounds he shall rise with Christ, 
and that in heaven he shall have a secure dwelling- 
place at the right hand of the Father. This hope is 
made up of proper and fitting deductions from certain 
truthful statements. That Christ died for sinners is 
true ; that he died to save all who trust in him is true ; 
that / trust in him is true ; therefore, that I am saved 
is true; and, being saved, that I shall inherit all his 
promises is a matter of course. Some people have a 
hope, but they do not know where they get it from, nor 
do they know a reason for it. When people die, you 
hear it said of one and another, " I hope he is gone to 
heaven." Well, I wish he may have gone ; but I dare 
not say of some that I hope so, because hope must have a 
reason. An anchor is of no use without its fluke. It must 
be able to hold fast. It must have — at any rate, the 
modern anchor must have — some weight about it witl 
which it can hold to the bottom. Hope must have its fluke 
too ; it must have its reason ; it must have its weight. 
When I say I hope so-and-so, I am foolish for hoping it, 
if I have not a reason for hoping. If you were to saj 
you hoped the person sitting next you would give you 
a thousand pounds, it would be a most absurd hope, 
You may wish it if you like, but what ground have you 
for the hope ? But if somebody owes you a thousand 



The Helmet. 101 

pounds, and you have his acknowledgment of the 
debt, you may then very well say that you hope it will 
be paid, for you have a legitimate right to expect it. 
Such is the Christian's hope. God has promised to save 
those who believe. Lord, I believe thee; thou hast 
promised to save me, and I hope thou wilt, I know 
thou wilt. The Christian's hope is not a fancy, not a 
silly desire. It did not spring up in the night like 
Jonah's gourd, nor will it wither in a night. The Chris- 
tian's hope is something that will bear a hard blow from 
a heavy club, or a smart cut from a sharp sword. It is 
made of good metal. John Bunyan said of a certain 
sword that it was " a true Jerusalem blade," and I may 
call this a true Jerusalem helmet, for he that wears it 
need not fear. 

Having shown the metal of which the helmet is made, 
let me now describe the strength of the helmet. It 
is so strong, that under all sorts of assaults, he who 
wears it is invulnerable. Recollect David, when pressed 
with the troubles of the world on every side. His 
enemies thought they had certainly ruined him. He 
himself half thought he should die, and he tells us that 
he should have fainted. And likely enough he would, 
only he had a bottle of cordial with him of which faith 
was the main ingredient. He says, " / had fainted 
unless I had believed." But, just at the time when he 
thought he would faint and die, he revived. Suddenly 
the old hero that slew Goliath, made all his enemies 
fly before him as he cried, (l Yv r hy art thou cast down, 
O my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me? 
Hope thou in God." And he laid about him right and 
left, as he should. " I shall yet praise him who is the 



102 Types and Emblems. 






health of my countenance and my God." "Hope thou 
in God," Christian. Oh, that blessed word Hope ! You 
know what the New Zealanders call hope; they call it 
in their language " the swimming thought," because it 
always floats and never sinks. You cannot drown it; 
it always keeps its head above the wave. When you 
think you have drowned the Christian's hope, up it 
comes all dripping from the brine, and cries again, 
" Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him \" Hope 
is the nightingale that sings in the night ; faith is the 
lark that mounts up towards heaven ; but hope is the 
nightingale that cheers the valley in the darkness. O 
Christian, be thankful that you have so strong a helmet 
as this, which can bear all assaults, and can keep you 
unscathed in the midst of the fray ! 

This hope of salvation is a helmet which will not 
come off. It is of main importance, you know, to 
have a helmet that cannot be knocked off in the first 
scrimmage. That is why our policemen are dressed 
differently from what they used to be, because their 
hats used to get knocked off. So it is with a common- 
place hope, it fails him in an extremity ; but the Chris- 
tian wears a helmet that he cannot get off anyhow. 
There was once a good soldier of Jesus Christ — a woman 
— some women are among the best soldiers of Christ ; 
his true Amazons. This good woman had been much 
harassed by a sceptical person; and when very much 
confused with some of his knotty questions, she turned 
round and said, " I cannot answer you, sir, but neither 
can you answer me, for I have a something within me 
that you cannot understand, which makes me feel that 
I could not give up what I know of Christ for all the 



The Helmet. 103 

world." The world can neither give nor take away the 
hope of a Christian. It comes from God, and he will 
never withdraw it, for his gifts and calling are without 
repentance. Once let this helmet be put on, and he 
will never remove it, but we shall hope on and hope 
ever, until we shall end these struggles, see his face, 
and reap his promises. 

I should like to go round amongst this regiment, as 
the commanding officers sometimes do, to have a look at 
you. The helmet is an old-fashioned kind of armour. 
In old days, the lieutenants and other officers, when 
they went round the regiment, used to look, not only to 
see that the men had their helmets, but to see that 
they had oiled them ; for in those times they used to 
oil their helmets to make them shine, and to keep 
the various joints and buckles in good order. No rust 
was ever allowed on the helmets, and it is said that 
when the soldiers marched out, with their brazen 
helmets and their white plumes, they shone most 
brilliantly in the sun. David speaks, you know, of 
" anointing the shield/' He was speaking of a brazen 
shield which had to be anointed with oil. Now, when 
God anoints his people's hope, when he gives them 
the oil of joy, their hope begins to shine bright in 
the light of the Saviour's countenance, and what a 
fine array of soldiers they are then ! Satan trembles 
at the gleaming of their swords; he cannot endure 
to look upon their helmets. But some of you do not 
keep your hope clear; you do not keep it bright; it 
gets rusty and unfit for use, and then, ere long, it 
gets to sit uncomfortably upon you, and you get 
weary with the fight. O Holy Spirit, anoint our heads 



104 Types and Emblems. 






with fresh oil, and let thy saints go forth terrible as an 
army with banners. 

Do not let it be overlooked that the helmet was 
generally considered to be a place of honour. The man 
put his plume in his helmet, he wore his crest frequently 
there, and in the thick of the fight the captain's plume 
was seen in the midst of the smoke and dust of battle, 
and the men pressed to the place where they saw it. 
Now, the Christian's hope is his honour and his glory. 
I must not be ashamed of my hope ; I must wear it for 
beauty and for dignity, and he who has a right good 
hope will be a leader to others. Others will see it, and 
will fight with renewed courage ; and where he hews a 
lane of the foes, they will follow him, even as he follows 
his Lord and Master, who has overcome, and sits down 
upon his Father's throne. I hope there are many 
Christians here who keep their helmets bright, and 
that there are many more who desire to have such 
helmets to protect themselves and to grace their pro- 
fession. 

IV. Alas! there are some who have no helmets. 
The reason is obvious. They are not Christ's soldiers. 

Of course the Lord Jesus does not provide anybody 
with armour but those in his own service. But Satan 
knows how to give you a helmet too. His helmets are 
very potent ones. Though the sword of the Spirit can 
go right through them, nothing else can. He can give, 
and he has given some of you, a head-piece that covers 
your entire skull — a thick head-piece of indifference; so 
that no matter what is preached, you heed it not. 
" What do I care ? " say you, and that is your helmet. 

Then he puts a piece in the front of the helmet called 



The Helmet. 105 

a brazen forehead and a brow of brass, " What do I 
care ? " was your cry. He takes care to fit the helmet 
right over your eyes, so that you cannot see; yea, 
though hell itself be before you, you do not see it. 
" What do I care ? " Then, he also knows how so to fit 
the helmet that it acts as a gag to your mouth, so that 
you never pray. Though you can swear through it, you 
cannot pray through it. Still you keep to your old cry, 
"What do I care?" 

Ah, it is not very likely that any sword which I wield 
will get at your head ! Arguments will not move you, for 
that is a question that cannot very well be argued — 
" What do I care ? " I pray God the Holy Spirit to get 
at your head, notwithstanding that horrible helmet ; 
for, if not, God has a way of dealing with such as you 
are. When you come to die, you will sing another 
song! When you come to lie upon a bed of sick- 
ness, and the grim day of eternity is in view, you 
will not be able to say quite so gaily as you do now, 
" What do I care ? " And, when the trumpet rings 
through earth and heaven, and your body starts up 
from your grave, and you see the great Judge upon 
his throne, you will not be able to say then, " What 
do I care ? " Your head will then be bare to the pitiless 
tempest of divine wrath. Bare-headed, you must be 
exposed to the everlasting storm that shall descend 
upon you. And, when the great angel binds you up 
with your fellows in bundles to burn, you will feel 
that you are not able to say, " What do I care ? " for 
cares will come upon you like a wild deluge, when you 
are banished from his presence, and all hope is gone ! 

Oh, I would you would take off that helmet ! May 



106 Types and Emblems. 

God grant you grace to unbuckle it now, never to 
put it on again ! Do care. You are not a fool, my 
friend, are you ? It is only a fool who says, " What do 
I care?" Surely you care about your soul; surely 
hell is worth escaping from ; surely heaven is worth 
winning; surely that cross on which our Saviour died is 
worth thinking of; surely that poor soul of yours is 
worth caring about ! Do, I pray you, think, and not 
go hastily on. Oh, may Jesus Christ, who died for 
such as you are, bring you to trust him ; and then, 
unbuckling all that evil armour of " What do I care ? " 
you will bow before his cross, and kiss his hands, and he 
will put upon you the golden helmet of a hope of salva- 
tion, and you will rise, one of the King's own soldiers, 
to fight his battles, and win an immortal wreath of ever- 
lasting victory. May it be so with every one of us. 




i|u ^{tljg it\\ tm |f *pfot& 




For by thee I have run through a troop ; and by my God have I 
over a wall." — Psalm xviii. 29. 



It T sometimes puzzles the unenlightened believer 
to find that the Psalms often relate both to 
David and to David's Lord. Many a young 
believer has found himself quite bewildered 
when reading a psalm ; and he has scarcely 
been able to make out how a passage should 
be true both of David and of the Lord 
Jesus Christ, " our Superior King." This he cannot 
understand. But he who is grown in grace, and 
has got far enough to understand the meaning of 
conformity to Christ, sees that it is not without a 
high and heavenly design that the Holy Ghost has 
presented to us the experience of Jesus in that model of 
experience through which David passed. My dear 
brethren, we all know as a matter of doctrine, but we 
have not all proved as a matter of sweet experience, 
that we are to be like our Head. We must be like him 
upon earth ; like him despised and rejected by men in our 
generation ; like him bearers of the cross. Yea, we must 
not shrink in any way from what is meant by being 
crucified with him, and buried with him, in order that 



]08 Types and Emblems. 

we may know in after days how to rise with him, how to 
ascend with him, and how to sit with him upon his 
throne. Nay, I will go further ; even in this life the 
believer is to have a conformity to Christ in his present 
glories, for we are even now raised up together with 
Christ, and made to sit together in heavenly places in 
Christ Jesus ; in him also we have obtained the inheri- 
tance, for we are complete in him who is the head of all 
principality and power. There is such a conformity be- 
tween Christ and his people that everything that is said 
of Christ may, in some measure, be said of his people. 
Whatever Christ hath been, they should be or have been. 
Whatever he hath done, he hath done for them, and they 
shall do the like, after some fashion or another. What- 
ever he hath attained unto, they shall also enjoy. If 
he reign eth, they shall reign ; and if he be heir of a 
universal monarchy, they shall also be kings and priests 
unto God, and shall reign for ever and ever. Thus the 
riddle becomes solved ; the parable is expounded ; the 
dark saying that was opened on David's harp shines 
clearly in gospel light. You can see not only how it 
is possible that the same psalm can relate to David 
and David's Lord ; but you can see that there is a 
divine mystery, and a most rich and precious lesson, 
couching beneath the fact that the Holy Ghost hath 
chosen to set forth the doings, the sufferings, and the 
triumphs of Christ, under the figure or model of the 
doings, sufferings, and victories of the son of Jesse. 
You will not, therefore, be surprised to hear me remark 
that this text hath relation to Christ and the believer 
too. The doings and triumphs of Jesus must, ac- 
cordingly, first engage our attention; and, in the 



One Trophy for Two Exploits. 109 

second place, observe that we have here a picture of 
the wondrous doings of faith, when the believer is en- 
abled to triumph over every earthly ill, and over every 
human opposition. " By thee I have run through a 
troop ; and by my God have I leaped over a wall." 

I. Let us take the first sentence with regard to Christ. 
" By thee have I run through a troop/' How accu- 
rately Christ's enemies are here described, described by 
their number, they were a troop. The Captain of our 
salvation, although single-handed in the combat, had to 
fight with a legion of foes. It was not a mere duel, 
is true there was but one on the victor's side, but 
there was an innumerable host in antagonism to him. 
Not only the Prince of Darkness, but all the powers 
and the principalities thereof, came against him. Not 
sin in the mass, but sin in daily temptations of every 
kind, and sin of every shade and form. Not only from, 
earth a host of human despisers and human opponents, 
but a yet greater host from the lowest depths of hell. 
These, from their number, are well compared to a 
troop. 

Nor does this expression describe their number 
merely, but also their discipline. They were a troop. 
A crowd of men is a great number, but it is not a troop. 
A crowd may be far sooner put to rout than a troop. 
A troop is a trained company that knows how to march 
and marshal itself, and to stand firm under the attack. 
It was even so with Christ's enemies. They were a 
crowd and a mob ; but they were a troop also, marshalled 
by that skilful and crafty leader, the Prince of Darkness. 
They stood firm, and were well disciplined, and in a 
close phalanx ; they were not broken. As though they 



110 Types and Emblems, 

were but one man they sustained the shock of Christ's 
attack, and marched against him, hoping for victory. In 
such character do his opponents appear. However well 
you might discipline a crowd of men, yet they would not 
become a troop unless also they have been trained in 
warfare. A troop means a body of well-disciplined men, 
all of them prepared to fight, and understanding how to 
make war. Thus, all Christ's enemies were well trained. 
There was the Archfiend of Hell, who in hundreds of 
battles against the Lord's elect in the olden time had 
gotten a thorough knowledge of all the weak points of 
manhood, and understood how to temper his attack, and 
wherein lay the greatest chances of victory. After him 
were all the fiends of the pit, and these were all well 
exercised, each of them mighty, of giant stature like 
Goliath — all of them mighty to do great exploits with 
any man less than God, however mighty that man might 
be. And as for sin, was it not a mighty thing? Were 
not our sins all of them mighty to destroy ? The least 
one among the sins that attacked Christ would have 
been sufficient to destroy the human race ! and yet there 
were tens of thousands of these, well disciplined, ranged 
in order, and all thoroughly prepared for battle. All 
these came on in dread array against our Lord and 
Saviour Jesus Christ. It was a troop. I have not 
overdrawn this, for Calvin translates this term " a 
wedge/' for in his day it was customary in battle for the 
soldiers to form themselves into a wedge- shape, so that 
when they attacked the enemy the first man made an 
opening, though he fell ; the next two advanced, and 
then after them the three, and as the wedge widened it 
broke the ranks of the enemy. So it seemeth as though 



One Trophy for Two Exploits, 111 

the Holy Spirit would here describe the regular and 
well-directed attack which the enemy of man's soul made 
upon Christ. He came against him in settled order. 
It was no rush of some wild Tartar host against the 
Saviour, it was a well-arranged and well-regulated 
attack ; and yet, glory be to his name, he broke through 
the troop, and ran through them more than a conqueror. 
Another old and eminent commentator translates the 
term troop by the old Greek term a phalanx, to show 
again how strong, how mighty, how great and powerful 
were the enemies of Christ. It will often be of excellent 
use to us for the stimulation of our faith, and for the 
excitement of our gratitude, if we recollect the might 
of the enemies of Christ. When we undervalue the 
strength of his enemies, we are apt to under-estimate 
his omnipotence. We must go through the ranks of 
his foes, and look the ghastly opponents in the face ; we 
must march through the long lines of our sins, and look 
at the hideous monsters, and see how mighty they are, 
and how powerless all human strength would have been 
to resist them ; and then shall we learn in an ample 
measure to estimate the might and the majesty of the 
glorious Son of God, when, all unarmed and unassisted, 
he ran through the troop and put them all to the rout. 
Several different eminent expositors of God's Word give 
divers interpretations of this sentence, each suggesting 
a fresh meaning, and helping to bring out that which is 
certainly true, if not the precise meaning of the passage. 
One good translator says this verse might be rendered, 
" By thee have I ran to a troop ;" and takes this to be the 
sense. Our Saviour is represented to us as not waiting 
till his enemies came to him, but running to them, 



112 Types and Emblems. 

willingly and voluntarily resigning himself to their 
attack. He did not wait till Judas should come to the 
upper room and salute him in the chamber as he sat at 
supper; neither did he tarry on his knees in that ter- 
rible agony of his in the olive grove ; but he went forth 
to meet Judas. Judas had come forth with swords and 
with staves to take him as a thief; but he sought not 
to make an escape. " He went forth unto them, and 
said unto them, whom seek ye ? M Thus did he manifest 
both his willingness to undertake our redemption, and 
also his courage in facing the foe. There was at one 
time a human fear which seemed as if it would hold him 
back from the battle, when he said, " Oh, my Father, if 
it be possible, let this cup pass from me ;" but this once 
expressed, the Holy One of Israel anointed him with 
fresh courage, and to the battle he walked with slow, 
majestic steps. He would not wait till they rushed on 
him ; but he would take the initiative, and begin the 
fight. He had come upon them in the garden; and now 
already with his own blood see the conquering hero 
rushes to the fight, and dashes through the troop. But 
look what divine mercy, what holy courage is here found 
in the Lord Jesus Christ, that he ran to our enemies. 

" Down from the shining courts above 
With joyful haste he fled ; 
Entered the grave in mortal flesh, 
And dwelt among the dead." 

He ran to a troop. But our version hath it, " He ran 
through a troop;" and this is also exceedingly accurate, 
if you couple with it the idea which you will find in the 
marginal readings of your Bibles. " By thee have I 
broken through a troop." Christ made a dash at his 



One Trophy for Two Exploits. 11 3 

foes. They stood firm, as if they would not flinch before 
him, but his terrible right hand soon found for him a 
way. They imagined when his hands were nailed to the 
cross that now he was powerless ; but that nail was the 
very symbol of his omnipotence, for in weakness was he 
strong. The bowing of his head, which they perhaps 
thought to be the symbol of his defeat, was but the 
symbol of his victory ; and in dying he conquered, in 
suffering he overcame. Every wound that he received 
was a death-blow to his enemies, and every pang that 
rent his heart was as when a lion rendeth the prey, and 
Christ himself was rending them when they thought 
that they were rending him. He ran through a troop. 

It will do your souls good if you have imagination 
enough to picture Christ running through this troop. 
How short were his sufferings comparatively ! Compare 
them with the eternal weight of punishment and misery 
which we ought to have endured. What a stride was 
that which Jesus took when he marched right through 
his enemies, and laid them right and left, and gained 
himself a glorious victory. Samson, when he grasped 
the jaw-bone of an ass, slew his thousand men, and said, 
" Heaps upon heaps with the jaw-bone of an ass have I 
slain a thousand men," did it all in haste, and then threw 
away the jaw-bone, as if it were but little he had done. 
And even so our mightier Samson, meeting with the 
hosts of sin, and death, and hell, laid them all in heaps ; 
and then crying out " It is finished," he seemed as strong 
and mighty as if he had not endured the fatigues of the 
fight, or suffered the horrors of death, and was ready, if 
they required it, to meet them all again, and give them 
another defeat. " By thee have I run through a troop.'' 

8 



114 Types and Emblems. 

There is yet another version. " By thee have I run 
after a troop." After our Saviour had met and fought 
with his antagonists, and conquered £hem, they fled. 
But he pursued them. He must not simply defeat, but 
take them prisoners. There was Old Captivity. You 
know his name. He had been the oppressor of the 
human race for many and many a day, and when Christ 
routed him he fled. But Jesus pursued, and binding 
him in adamantine chains, " He led captivity captive, 
and gave gifts to man." He pursued the troop, and 
brought back old Satan in chains, bound him in fetters, 
slew grim death, and ground his iron limbs to powder, 
and left his enemies no more at large to wander where 
they will, but subject to his divine power and to his om- 
nipotent sway. He ran after a troop, and took them 
prisoners. 

Perhaps, however, the most striking thing in our text 
is the combination of those two little words, " by thee." 
What, did not Christ fight and obtain victory by his own 
innate strength ? Did not the Son of God, the Redeemer, 
find strength enough within himself to do all that was 
necessary for us ? It would not be heterodox if I were to 
assert that it was even so. And yet in Scripture you 
will constantly find that the condescension of Christ is 
eminently pointed out to us in the fact that, as the ser- 
vant of God, and as our Redeemer, he is continually 
spoken of as being strengthened, assisted, and animated 
by his Father and the Holy Spirit. Especially will you 
notice this in the Book of Mark. The Evangelist Mark 
speaks of Christ through the whole of his book as a 
servant. Each of the Evangelists has a distinct view of 
Christ. Matthew speaks of him as a king, Mark as a 



One Trophy for Two Exploits, 115 

servant, Luke as a man, and John as God. Now, 
in reading through Mark, you will observe, if you take 
the trouble to read it carefully, the recurrence of such, 
phrases as this — "And immediately the Spirit drivcth. 
him into the wilderness. ,J This follows close on his 
baptism, when the Holy Ghost descended on him as a 
dove. And then, when he came up to Nazareth, we read 
that, as a servant, Christ needed anointing as well as any 
other; and, when he begins to preach, his text is, "The 
Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed 
me to preach the gospel to the poor, and hath sent me to 
heal the broken-hearted." Now, I take it this is a very 
eminent instance of the condescension of our Divine 
Master, that he in all things was made like unto his 
brethren ; and, as they are utterly powerless without the 
Holy Spirit, and without the Father's drawing can do 
nothing, so Jesus Christ did, as it were, divest himself 
of his own Divine power, and, as our brother, he 
fraternised even with our infirmities. Thus he was 
strengthened, helped, and assisted by his Father and by 
the Holy Spirit. Hence, it is strictly accurate to remark 
that even Christ himself could subscribe to this sentence 
— " By thee have I run through a troop." 

Does it seem to you, beloved, to lower your hope in 
the person of Christ ? At first sight it may seem so. 
But, think again ; there is much rich consolation here. 
O, my soul, learn that thou hast not only God the Son 
to be thy helper, but that thou hast God the Father and 
God the Spirit also ! Oh, 'tis sweet to see that in re~ 
demption itself, where we are too apt with our poor 
blind eyes to see but one person of the Trinity — in 
redemption itself the triune Jehovah was engaged. If 



116 Types and Emblems. 

this is not the view of the work of redemption which is 
commonly taken, I am sure it is Scriptural. It is true 
that the Son paid the penalty, and endured the agony ; 
but still it was his Father who, while smiting him with 
one hand, sustained him with the other ; and it was the 
Spirit who, wrapping him about with zeal as with a 
cloak, and inflaming his soul with divine ardour, enabled 
him to dash through his enemies, and become more than 
a conqueror. This sweetens redemption to me. The 
Father and the Holy Ghost also are engaged and 
interested on my behalf. Our Redeemer is the Holy 
One of Israel — the Lord of Hosts is his name. We may 
say of the three persons of the Divine Trinity that each 
of these is our Redeemer, because they have all brought 
to its full completion the grand work of our redemption 
from the power of sin, and death, and hell. "By thee 
have I run through a troop. '' My soul, lift up thine 
eyes ere thou turnest from this passage, and see all thy 
sins forgiven in the person of Christ. Look there, and 
behold the old dragon's head broken ; see death pierced 
through with one of his own shafts. See how the old 
serpent drags along his mangled length, writhing in his 
agony, for " The Lord Jehovah is our strength and our 
song; he also has become our salvation ;" and, in him, 
and through him, and by him, we have broken through a 
troop, and are more than conquerors. 

Let us now take the second sentence, " By my God 
have I leaped over a wall/' How is this to be under- 
stood ? I think that David, if we take this as alluding 
to David, is here described as having stormed and taken 
some strongly-munitioned and well-walled city. He 
had by the power of God taken the strength from the 



One Trophy for Two Exploits. 117 

inhabitants of Jebus, and so he had leaped over a wall. 
]3ut we are not now speaking of David but of Christ. 
In what sense can we say that Jesus Christ has stormed a 
wall ? " By my God have I leaped over a wall.'' I must 
be allowed to be figurative for a few minutes. The 
people of the Lord had become the slaves of Satan, and 
that they might never more escape from his power, he 
had put them into his stronghold, and had walled them 
round about, that they might be his perpetual captives. 
There was, first of all, the tremendous bulwark of sin, 
gathering strength from the law, with its ten massive 
towers mounted with ten hundred pieces of ordnance, 
in the shape of threatenings of destruction. This wall 
was so high that no human being has ever been able 
to scale it ; so terrible, that even the omnipotence of 
•God had to be exercised before it could be removed. 
Next to this there was a second rampart; it was the 
rampart of diabolical insinuation and satanic sugges- 
tion. Satan had not only allowed the law to stand 
so as to keep the soul in despair, but had added to 
this his own determination that he would not leave a 
stone unturned, might he but keep the human race 
in his own power. Thus hell made the second ram- 
part, while it seemed as if heaven had built the first. 
Outside thereof was a deep ditch, and then another 
mound, called Human Depravity. This, as we must 
observe, was as difficult to be stormed as either of the 
others. Man was desperately set on mischief. He would 
be a sinner, let what might be said to him or done 
for him. He would seek greedily with both hands to 
work out his own destruction ; and that love of destruc- 
tion which was in his heart constituted one of the great 



118 Types and Emblems. 

barriers to his salvation. Nov.-, Christ Jesus came, and 
he leaped over all these walls. He came, and in your 
redemption he broke through the law. Nay, he did not 
break through it, he mounted it, he scaled it. The law 
of God stands to this day as fast and firm as ever ; not a 
stone has been taken down ; not one of its castles has 
been dismantled ; there it stands in all its awful majesty, 
but Christ leaped over this. He paid the penalty, en- 
dured the wrath, and so he took his people out of the 
first ward of the law. Whereas, after this came a second, 
the wall of Satan's fell determination to keep them 
prisoners. Christ our Lord and Master dashed this into 
a thousand pieces, springing the tremendous mine of 
his covenant purposes, and throwing the whole mass into 
the air, and there it was destroyed once and for ever ; 
no more to hold the people of God in captivity and 
bondage. Tiie last wall which he had to overleap, in 
order to get his people thoroughly free, and bring them 
out of the stronghold of sin and Satan, v» T as the wall of 
their own depravity. This, indeed, it were hard work to 
storm. Many of his ministers first of all went into the 
stronghold and tried to storm it ; but they came away 
defeated. They found that this was too strong for all 
human battering rams. They hammered at it with all 
their might, but there it stood, resisting the shock, and 
seeming to gather strength from every blow that was 
meant to shake it. But, at last, Jesus came, and using 
nothing but his cross, as the most powerful battering 
ram, he shook the wall of our depravity and made a 
breach and entered in, and let his people out into that 
liberty wherewith he had made them free. Oh, how 
sweet it is to think of Christ thus leaping over the wails. 



One Trophy for Two Exploits. 119 

He would have his people. He came down to earth and 
was with them in all their misery, and took upon him 
all their sin. He determined to enter in and save them 
from the dungeon. He made his own escape and 
brought them with him. He not only came himself 
through sin, and death, and hell triumphant, but brought 
all his children on his shoulders, as iEneas did his old 
father Anchises. The whole generation of the elect was 
redeemed in that hour when Christ leaped over every wall. 
Thus, have -I tried to expound to you the text as re- 
lating to the person of our blessed Lord and Saviour 
Jesus Christ. I w r ould only repeat the remark once 
more, that in this verse it is said, " By my God have I 
done it." As mediator, in his official capacity, and in 
his service for our redemption, he received the strength- 
ening assistance and aid of his Divine Father, and he 
could truly say, " By my God have I leaped over a wall." 
It will do thee good, O believer, if thou wilt often stay 
and look at thy Saviour accomplishing all his triumphs. 
O my soul, what wouldst thou have done if he had not 
broken through a troop, if he had not routed them? 
Where wouldst thou have been ? Thou wouldst at this 
hour have been the captive of sin, and death, and hell. 
All thy sins would now be besetting thee, howling in 
thine ear for vengeance. Satan, with all the hosts of 
hell, would be now guarding thee, determining thou 
shouldst never escape. Oh, how joyous is this fact, that 
he hath once for all routed them, and now we are secure. 
Then, my soul, bethink thee, what wouldst thou have 
done if he had not leaped over a wall? Thou wouldst 
have been dead this day, shut in within the rampart of 
thine own hard heart, or within the stronghold of Satan, 



120 Types and Emblems. 

and with the mighty fiends of hell thou wouldst have been 
trebly guarded and trebly enslaved. Now thy fetters are 
all broken, as " a monument of grace, a sinner saved by 
blood." Lift up thy heart, and thy hands, and thy voice, 
and shout for joy and for gladness. "He hath broken the 
gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder/' He 
hath leaped over a wall, and brought thee out of thy 
prison-house. 

This brings me now to the second part of my dis- 
course, and I must ask your patience, and pray again for 
the assistance of the Holy Spirit, that in this especially 
Christ's people may find a word of edification. We are 
now to regard our text as being the language of the 
believer. He can say, " By thee have I run through a 
troop, and by my God have I leaped over a wall." I 
shall divide my text after another fashion on this second 
point. I shall note, first, with regard to the believer, 
his trials — how varied ! Sometimes it is a troop of 
enemies ; at another time a wall of difficulties. When 
a man has one labour to accomplish, he soon begins to 
be skilful in it. If he is to be a soldier, and fight a 
troop, at length he learns how to get the victory. But, 
suppose that his labours are varied ; after fighting a troop 
he has to go clambering over a wall, then you will see the 
critical situations by which he is embarrassed. Now, this 
aptly pictures the position of God's people ; the Spirit is 
continually varying our trials. There is no one day's 
trials that are exactly like the trials of another day. We 
are not called to one undeviating temptation, or else it 
would cease to have its force ; but the temptations are 
erratic — the darts are shot from different directions, and 
the stones come from quite opposite quarters. This is 



One Trophy for Two Exploits. 121 

well set out in one of the Lord's parables. He speaks 
-of the trials of the righteous thus : — There was a certain 
wise man who built his house upon a rock, and the rains 
descended — trials from above; and the floods came — 
trials from beneath ; the winds blew — mysterious trials 
from every quarter ; and they all beat upon that house, 
and it fell not. Trials of every shape attend the fol- 
lowers of the Lamb. " A Christian man is seldom long 
at ease ; when one trial's gone another doth him seize." 
The archers come against us, and we receive their fiery 
darts; anon the company of swordsmen come, and we 
rebuke them ; and then the slingers sling their stones 
against us, and then the company of spearmen ; so that 
we must be armed at all points, and ready for every kind 
of attack. Our Saviour in this was like to us. He says 
to us in one place, " Dogs have compassed me — that was 
bad enough — but the bulls of Bashan have beset me 
round; that was not all, they gaped upon me with 
their mouths, as a raving and a roaring lion." Only 
fancy that ! A man has to fight with dogs, and then to 
fight with bulls, and then with lions. And yet, this is 
just the Christian's state. We cannot guess from the 
trials of the past what will be the trials of the future ; 
we think it is to be all fighting, but we are mistaken ; 
some part of it is to be climbing over this or that wall, 
and anon make way through obstructions that will not 
yield. Now, I have known God's people sometimes try 
to break through a wall, and sometimes try to climb over 
a troop. This is very absurd. If they have had a troop of 
spiritual enemies, they have tried to climb over them, 
and endeavour to escape them. At another time they 
have had a difficult trial like a wall, and they have been 



122 Types and Emblems. 

so headstrong they must try to go through it. Ah ! we 
have much to learn. Some things we must fight through, 
others we must climb over. It is not always right for 
the child of God to let his courage get the better of his 
discretion. Let him have courage for the troop to run 
through them, and discretion for the wall, and not try to 
run through that, or he will break himself in pieces. 
There are exercises and trials in various ways. The 
believer's trials — how varied ! And, next to this, notice 
his faith — how unflinching ! 

There is the troop, he runs through them ; there is 
the wall, he is ready for that — he leaps over it. He 
finds that his faith is sufficient for every emergency. 
When his God is with him there is no difficulty too great 
for him ; he does not stop to deliberate — as for the troop, 
he runs through that ; and then there is the wall at the 
other end — he takes a leap and is over that. So when 
God enables our faith, when the Holy One of Israel is 
with us, and the strength of Omnipotence girds our 
loins, difficulties are only the healthy exercises of our 
faith. God will exercise faith. There is not a single 
grain of faith in the breast of any living believer that is 
not exercised. God will not allow it to sleep — a sleeping 
faith, a dormant faith, I believe such a thing don't exist. 
If thou hast faith, my brother, expect labour ; for, as 
sure as God gives faith, he will put it into the gym- 
nasium and make it exercise itself; sometimes dashing 
at a troop, and then trying its limbs another way, no 
more to exercise its arm in fighting, but its knees in 
prayer ; to climb over a hill ; all sorts of exercises ta 
keep our faith in order that we may be ready for any 
exercise, whatever it may be. Some men seem as if 






One Trophy for Two Exploits. 12S 

they only had to meet one form of trial. They remind 
me of the Indian Fakir ; he holds his arm straight up ; 
that is the triumph of his strength. Now, God does 
not exercise a believer's limbs till they grow stiff; but he 
exercises them in every way, that they may become 
supple, so that, come what may, he is ready to achieve 
any exploit. 

With faith, how easy all exploits become ! When we 
have no faith, then to fight with enemies and overcome 
difficulties is hard work indeed ; but, when we have faith,, 
oh, how easy our victories ! What does the believer do? 
There is a troop — well, he runs through it. ; Tis but a 
matter of morning exercise. There is a wall. What 
about that ? Does he climb over with hands and knees, 
as a long, hard task, putting up a ladder on one side,, 
and pulling it over on the other ? It is amazing how easy- 
life becomes when a man has faith. Does faith diminish 
difficulties? Oh, no! it increaseth them ; but it increaseth 
his strength to overcome them. If thou hast faith, thou 
shalt have trials ; but thou shalt do great exploits, en- 
dure great privations, and get triumphant victories. Have 
you ever seen a man made mighty through God ? But have 
you ever seen him in an hour of desertion ? He goes out. 
like Samson to meet the Philistines. " Oh ! " says he, 
" I will shake myself as at other times/' But his locks- 
have been shorn, and when the cry is raised, " The 
Philistines are upon thee, Samson," he shakes his limbs- 
with vast surprise, makes feeble fight, and loses his eyes. 
They are put out, and he returns in blindness. 

But, when God is with him, see what the believer can 
do. They have weaved the seven locks of his head with 
a web, and he takes and carries the loom away. Anon, 



124 Types and Emblems. 

they bind him with seven green withs that have never 
been tried. All things are possible to him that be- 
Jieveth ; nay, not only possible, but easy, when God is 
with him. He laughs at impossibilities, and says it shall 
be done, for faith can do all things. " By my God have 
I run through a troop ; by my God have I leaped over 
a wall." And yet, though the victories of faith are thus 
•easy, we must call to mind that these victories always 
are to be traced to a divine source. That man who 
takes the credit of his victories to himself has no faith, 
for faith is one of the self-denying graces. Faith called 
a parliament of all the graces, and passed a self-denying 
ordinance. It decreed that whatever any of the graces 
did it should give all the glory of it to God. Christ 
once upon a time took the crown off his own head, and 
put it on the head of faith. " When was that ? " say 
you. Why, Christ healed the poor woman, and there- 
fore it was HE who deserved the crown; but, saith he, 
" Thy faith hath saved thee ; go and sin no more." He 
thus put the crown upon faith. What was the reason ? 
Why, because faith always puts its crown on the head of 
Christ. True faith never wears its own crown. It says, 
"Not unto me, but unto thy name, Lord, be all the 
glory." This is the reason why God has selected faith 
to achieve such mighty victories ; because faith will not 
allow the glory or honour to cleave to its own wings, 
but shakes off all self-praise, just as Paul did the viper 
into the fire. Faith says, u No, no. Give me not thanks, 
or praise, or honour. I have done nothing." Faith 
will have it not only that it does nothing, but that Christ, 
which dwelleth in it, has done it all : and faith has been 
known to say, " I want none of your palms, ye belong 



One Trophy for Two Exploits. 12S 

to Christ, not to me." It will have nothing to do with 
honour, Christ must have every atom of it. 

And now, my dear friends, there is one consolation 
with which I will close this sermon. The psalmist says,. 
" By thee have I run through a troop ; and by my God 
have I leaped over a wall." I think if he were here at this 
time he would permit me to add, ' ' And by my God shall 
I leap over a wall, and by thee shall I break through 
many a troop/' What faith has done once by its God,, 
it can do again. We have met Satan once in the battle- 
field, and when he chooses to attack us once more that 
old Jerusalem blade that gave him a bitter blow once is- 
ready to give him another. That shield which once 
caught his fiery darts is still unbroken, and still prepared 
to receive another portion of them when he chooses to 
hurl them. Martin Luther, you know, often used to 
defy Satan to battle. I care not to do that ; but he 
used to say, in his queer, quaint way, " I often laugh 
at Satan, and there is nothing makes him so angry as 
when I attack him to his face, and tell him that through 
God I am more than a match for him ; tell him to do 
his worst, and yet I will beat him ; and tell him to put 
forth his fury, and yet I will overcome him." This 
would be presumption if in our own strength. It is only 
faith in the providence of God that can enable us to say 
so. He that has made God his refuge need fear no 
storm; but just as sometimes in Christmas weather the 
wind and snow and storm outside make the family fire 
seem warmer, and the family circle seem happier, so the 
trials and temptations of Satan do sometimes seem to add 
to the very peace and happiness of the true believer while 
he sits wrapped up in the mantle of godly confidence. 



125 Types and Emblems. 

" Let cores like a wild delude come, 
And storms of sorrow fall ; 
May I but safely reach my home, 
My God, my heaven, my all." 

And, when we know that we shall reach our home, even 
the storms or the tempests matter but little. Come, poor 
believer, pluck up thy courage. I have tried to give 
thee some strong meat. Feed upon it. As the Lord 
Jesus Christ had a troop to face, and broke through 
them, so shalt thou. Even as he overcame, so shalt 
thou overcome. Did he enter heaven, and is there a 
long cloud of witnesses streaming in behind him, every 
one a warrior ? So if thou art his warrior thou shalt be 
one of that long stream ; thou shalt also wear a crown, 
and wave the palm, and sing a song of victory, and talk 
of triumph purchased through the blood of, and achieved 
through faith in, the Lamb. 

I must pause one moment while I address myself to 
those who know nothing of God, and nothing of Christ. 
Well, my hearers, you have a troop too, and you have 
your walls of difficulty ; but you have no God to help 
you ! Whatever trials the believer has, he has a God 
to fly to. " Look," said a poor woman to a lady who 
called to see her, " Look, ma'am ; I'll show you all Pm 
worth. Do you see that cupboard, ma'am ? Look in." 
The lady looked in, and saw nothing. " Do you see 
this cupboard ? " said the woman. " Yes," said the lady, 
" but there is nothing in it but a dry crust." "Well/' 
continued the woman, " do you see this chest ? " " Yes, 
I see it; but it is empty /' was the reply. "Well," 
said she, " that is all I am worth, ma'am ; but I have 
not a doubt or fear with regard to my temporal affairs. 
My God is so good that I can still live without doubts 



One Trophy for Two Exploits. 127 

and fears." She knew what it was to break through a 
troop and leap over a wall. Now, perhaps, there are 
some of you with cupboards just as empty as that 
poor woman's ; but, you cannot add, " I have a God to 
go to." O miserable creature — miserable if you are 
rich, thrice miserable if you are poor — to be like a pack- 
horse in this life, carrying a heavy burden, and then not 
to be unloaded at the grave, but to have a double burden 
laid upon you. O poor men and women without 
Christ — with the few comforts which you have in this 
life, with its many privations, with its hunger, and thirst, 
and nakedness, oh, that you should not have a better world 
to go to ! Above all, it seems a miserable thing that you 
should go through poverty here to a place where a drop of 
water shall be denied you to cool your burning tongue ! 
If Christ is precious to the rich on earth, you must think 
that there is a peculiar sort of relish with which the 
poor man feeds on the bread of heaven. But, you say, 
u May I not have a hope of heaven ? " Assuredly, my 
friend. Dost thou long for Christ this moment ? Then, 
he longs for thee. Dost thou desire to have him ? Then, 
he gives thee that desire. Come thou to him, for the 
word of the gospel is, " Whosoever will, let him come 
and take of the water of life freely." None are ex- 
cluded; none but those who do themselves exclude. 
The invitation is free. May the application be effectual ! 
Oh, that some of you may be led to go to your houses 
now, and on your knees ask for forgiveness of siu, and 
seek that you may become the children of God, through 
faith in the precious blood once shed for many for the 
remission of sins. 




if jjmt % ta 4 m 



" In the midst of the street of it, and en either side of the river, 
was there the tree of life, which hare twelve manner of fruits, and 
yielded her fruit every month : and the leaves of the tree were for the 
healing of the nations." — Revelation sxii. 2. 



: 




OU will remember that in the first Paradise 
there was a tree of life in the midst of the 
garden. "When Adam had offended, and 
was driven out, it was said, "Lest he put 
forth his hand, and take of the tree, and eat, 
and live for ever, therefore God drove out 
the man/' It has been supposed by some, 
that this tree of life in the garden of Eden was intended 
to be the means of continuing man in immortality, that 
his feeding upon it would have supported him in the 
vigour of unfailing youth, preserved him from exposure 
to decay, and imparted by a spiritual regeneration, the 
seal of perpetuity to his constitution. I do not know 
about that. If it were so, I can understand the reason 
why God would not have the first man, Adam, become 
immortal in the lapsed state he then was, but ordained 
that the old nature should die, and that the immortality 
should be given to a new nature, which should be 



Christ the Tree of Life, 129 

formed under another leadership, and quickened by 
another spirit. 

The text tells us that in the centre of the new Para- 
dise, the perfect Paradise of God, from which the saints 
shall never be driven, seeing it is to be our perpetual 
heritage, there is also a tree of life. But here we trans- 
late the metaphor. We do not understand anything 
literal at all. We believe our Lord Jesus Christ to be 
none other than that tree of life, whose leaves are for the 
healing of the nations. We can scarcely conceive of any 
other interpretation, as this seems to us to be so full of 
meaning, and to afford us such unspeakable satisfaction. 

At any rate, beloved, if this be not the absolute 
purpose of the sublime vision that John saw, it is most 
certainly true that our Lord Jesus Christ is life from the 
dead, and life to his own living people. He is all in all 
to them, and by him, and by him alone must their 
spiritual life be maintained. We are right enough, 
then, in saying that Jesus Christ is a tree of life, and 
we shall so speak of him, in the hope that some may 
come and pluck of the fruit, and eat, and live for ever. 
Our desire shall be so to use the sacred allegory that 
some poor dying soul may be encouraged to lay hold on 
eternal life, by laying hold on Jesus Christ. 

First, we shall take the tree of life in the winter with 
no fruit on it ; secondly, we shall try to show you the tree 
of life budding and blossoming ; and, thirdly, we shall 
endeavour to show you the way to partake of its fruits. 

I. And first, my brethren, I have to speak to you of 
Jesus Christ, the tree of life in the winter. 

You will at once anticipate that I mean by this figure 
to describe Jesus in his sufferings, in his dark wintry 

9 



130 Types and Emblems. 

days, when lie did hang upon the cross, and bleed, and 
die ; when he had no honour from men, and no respect 
from any ; when even God the Father hid his face from 
him for a season, and he was made a curse for us, that 
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. 
My dear friends, you will never see the tree of life 
aright, unless you first look at the cross. It was there 
that this tree gathered strength to bring forth its after- 
fruit. It was there, we say, that Jesus Christ, by his 
glorious merits and his wondrous work achieved upon 
the cross, obtained power to become the Redeemer of 
our souls, and the Captain of our salvation. 

Come with me, then, by your faith, to the foot of the 
little mound of Calvary, and let us look up and see this 
thing that came to pass. Let us turn aside as Moses did 
when the bush burned, and see this great sight. It is the 
greatest marvel that ever earth, or hell, or heaven beheld, 
and we may well spend a few minutes in beholding it. 

Our Lord Jesus, the ever-living, the immortal, the 
eternal, became man, and, being found in fashion as a 
man, he humbled himself, and died the death of the 
cross. That death was not on his own account. His 
humanity had no need to die. He might have lived on, 
and have seen no death if so he willed. He had com- 
mitted no offence, no sin, and therefore no punishment 
could fail upon him. 

" For sins not his own 
He died to atone." 

Every pang upon the cross was substitutionary ; and 
for you, ye sons of men, the Prince of Glory bled, the 
just for the unjust, that he might bring you to God. 
There was no smart for himself, for his Father loved him 



Christ the Tree of Life. 131 

with a love ineffable; and he deserved no blows from 
his Father's hand, but his smarts were for the sins of his 
enemies, for your sins and mine, that by his stripes we 
might be healed, and that through his wounds, recon- 
ciliation might be made with God. 

Think, then, of the Saviour's death upon the cross. 
Mark ye well that it was an accursed death. There 
were many ways by which men might die, but there 
-was only one death which God pronounced to be ac- 
cursed. He did not say — Cursed is he that dies by 
stoning, or by the sword, or by a millstone being 
fastened about his neck, or by being eaten of worms, but 
it was written — (C Cursed is every one that hangeth on a 
tree," By no other death than that one, which God did 
single out as the death of the accursed, could Jesus 
Christ die. Admire it, believer, that Jesus Christ 
should be made a curse for us. Admire, and love ; let 
your faith and your gratitude blend together. 

It was a death of the most ignominious kind. The 
Roman law subjected only felons to it, and I believe not 
^even felons, unless they were slaves. A freed Roman 
must not so die, nor a subject of any of the kingdoms 
that Rome had conquered, but only the slave who was 
^bought and sold in the market could be put to this 
death. They counted him worthy to be sold as a slave, 
and then they put him to a slave's death for you. 
Besides, they added to the natural scorn of the death 
their own ridicule. Some passed by and wagged their 
heads. Some stood still and thrust out their tongues. 
Others sat down and watched him there, and satisfied 
their malice and their scorn. He was made the centre 
of all sorts of ridicule and shame. He was the drunkard's 



132 Types and Emblems. 

song, and even they that were crucified with him re- 
viled him. And all this he suffered for us. Our sin 
was shameful, and he was made to be a shame. We 
had disgraced ourselves and dishonoured God, and 
therefore Jesus was joined with the wicked in his death, 
and made as vile as they. 

Besides, the death teas exceedingly painful. We niuM; 
not forget the pangs of the Saviour's body, for I believe 
when we begin to depreciate the corporeal sufferings, we 
very soon begin to drag down the spiritual sufferings 
too. It must be a fearful death by which to die, when 
the tender hands and feet are pierced, and when the 
bones are dislocated by the jar of erecting the cross, 
and when the fever sets in, and the mouth becomes a& 
hot as an oven, and the tongue is swollen in the mouth, 
and the only moisture given is vinegar mingled with 
gall. Ah ! beloved, the pangs that Jesus knew, none of 
us can guess. We believe that Hart has well described 
it when he says that he bore — 

" All that incarnate God could bear, 
With strength enough and none to spare." 

You cannot tell the price of griefs, and groans, and 
sighs, and heart-breakings, and soul-tearings, and rend- 
ings of the spirit, which Jesus had to pay that he might 
redeem us from our iniquities. 

It was a lingering death. However painful a death 
may be, it is always satisfactory to think that it is soon 
over. When a man is hanged, after our English custom., 
or the head is taken from the body, the pain may be 
great for the instant, but it is soon over and gone. But 
in crucifixion a man hangs so long, that when Pilate 
found the Saviour dead, he marvelled that he was dead 



Christ the Tree of Life. 133 

already. I remember to have heard a missionary say, 
that he saw a man in Burmah crucified, and that he was 
alive two days after having been nailed to the cross; 
and I believe there are authenticated stories of persons 
who have been taken down from the cross after having 
hung for forty-eight hours, and after all have had their 
w r ounds healed, and have lived for years. It was a 
lingering death that the Saviour had to die. 

Oh ! my brethren, if you put these items together, 
they make up a ghastly total, which ought to press upon 
our hearts — if we be believers, in the form of grateful 
affection, or if we be unbelievers, provoking us to shame 
that we do not love him who loved the sons of men 
so much. 

And the death of the Lord Jesus Christ for us, we 
must also add, was penal. He died the death of the 
condemned. Perhaps most men would feel this to be 
the worst feature, for if a man shall die by never so 
painful a death, if it be accidental it misses the sting 
which must come into it, if it be caused by law, and if 
especially it be brought by sin, and after sentence has 
been passed in due form. Now, our Lord Jesus Christ 
was condemned by the civil and ecclesiastical tribunals 
of the country to die. And what was more — " It pleased 
the Father to bruise him ; he hath put him to grief." 
Jesus Christ died without sin of his own, but he died a 
penal death, because our sins were counted to him. He 
took upon him our iniquities as though they were his 
own, and then, being found in the sinner's place, he 
suffered, as if he had been a sinner, the wrath that was 
due for sin. 

Beloved, I wish it were in my power to set forth 



134 Types and Emblems. 

Christ crucified — Christ visibly crucified amongst you t 
Oh ! that I could so paint him that the eyes of your 
heart could see him ! I wish that I could make you 
feel the dolour of his griefs, and sip that bitter cup 
which he had to drain to the dregs. But, if I cannot do 
this, it shall suffice me to say that that death is the only 
hope of sinners. Those wounds of his are the gates to 
heaven. The smarts and sufferings of Immanuel are 
the only expiatory sacrifice for human guilt. Oh, ye 
who would be saved, turn your eyes hither. Look unto 
him and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth. There is 
life in a look at him; but there is life nowhere else. 
Despise him, and you perish. Accept him, and you 
shall never perish, neither shall all the powers of hell 
devour you. Come, guilty souls ! Jesus wants not your 
tears or your blood; his tears can cleanse you; his 
blood can purify you. If your heart be not as broken 
as you would have it, it is his broken heart, not yours, 
that shall merit heaven for you. If you cannot be what 
you would, he was for you what God would have him. 
God is contented with him. Be you contented. Come 
and trust him ! Oh, now may delays be over and 
difficulties all be solved, and just as you are, without one 
plea, but that the Saviour bled, come to your heavenly 
father, and you shall be accepted in the beloved. 

Thus, then — Jesus Christ hanging on the cross — is 
the Tree of Life in its winter. 

II. And now, let me show you, as I may be enabled, 

THAT SELFSAME TREE OF LIFE WHEN IT HAD BLOSSOMED 
AND BROUGHT FORTH FRUIT. 

There he stands — Jesus — still Jesus — the same, and 
yet how changed ! The same Jesus, but clothed with 



Christ the Tree of Life. 135 

honour instead of shame, able now to save them to the 
uttermost that come unto him. My text says of this 
tree that it bears twelve manner of fruits. I suppose 
that is intended to signify that a perfect and complete 
assortment of all supplies for human necessities are to be 
found in Christ — all sorts of mercies for all sorts of 
sinners ; all kinds of blessings to suit all kinds of neces- 
sities. We read of the palm-tree, that every bit of it is 
useful, from its root to its fruit. So it is with the Lord 
Jesus Christ. - There is nothing in him that we could 
afford to do without. There is nothing about Jesus 
that is extraneous or superfluous. You can put him to 
use in every part, in every office, in every relationship. 

A tree of life is for food. Some trees yield rich fruit. 
Adam in the garden lived only on the fruit of the field. 
Jesus Christ is the food of his people, and what dainties 
they have ! What satisfying food, what plenteous food, 
what sweet food, what food precisely suitable to all the 
Avants of their souls Jesus is ! As for manna, it was 
angels' food ; but what shall I say of Christ ? He is 
more than that ! 

" Never did angels taste above, 
Redeeming grace and dying love." 

Oh ! how you are fed ! The flesh of God's own Son is 
the spiritual meat of every heir of heaven. Hungry 
souls, come to Jesus if you would be fed. 

Jesus gives his people drink also. There are some 
tropical trees which, as soon as they are tapped, yield 
liquids as sweet and rich as milk, and many drink and 
are refreshed by them. Jesus Christ's heart-blood is the 
wine of his people. The atonement which he has per- 
fected by his sufferings is the golden cup out of which 



136 Types and' Emblems. 

they drink, and drink again, till their mourning souls 
are made glad, and their fainting souls are strengthened 
and refreshed. Jesus gives us the water of life — the 
wines on the lees well refined, the wine and milk, with- 
out money and without price. What a tree of life to 
yield us both meat and drink ! 

Jesus is a tree of life yielding clothing too. Adam 
went to the fig-tree for his garments, and the fig-leaves 
yielded him such covering as they could. But we come 
to Christ and we find, not fig-leaves, but a robe of 
righteousness that is matchless for its beauty, comely in 
its proportions ; one which will never wear out, which 
exactly suits to cover our nakedness from head to foot, 
and when we put it on makes us fair to look upon, even 
as Christ himself. Oh, ye who would be rearrayed till 
ye shall be fit to stand amongst the courtiers of the 
skies, come ye to Jesus, and find garments from the 
Tree of Life \ 

This tree also yields medicine. " The leaves thereof 
were for the healing of the nations." Lay a plaster 
upon any wound, and if it be but the plaster of King 
Jesus, it will heal it. But one promise from his lips; 
but one leaf from the tree ; but one word from his 
Spirit ; but one drop of his blood, and this is heaven's 
court-plaster indeed. It is true, there is no balm in 
Gilead ; there is no physician there ; and, therefore, the 
hurt of the daughter of Israel's people was not healed. But 
there is balm in Jesus ; there is a physician at Calvary, 
and the hurt of the daughter of God's people shall be 
healed if she do but fly to Jesus Christ for her healing. 

And, what shall I more say ? Is there anything else 
your spirits can want ? Oh, children of God, Christ is 



Christ the Tree of Life. 137 

all ! Oh, ye ungodly ones, who have been roaming the 
wood, there to find the tree that should supply your 
wants — stop here. This " apple-tree among the trees of 
the wood " is the tree which your souls require. Stay 
here, and you shall have all you need. For, listen — this 
tree yields a shelter from the storm. Other trees are 
dangerous when the tempest howls ; but he that shelters 
beneath the tree of the Lord Jesus shall find that all the 
thunder-bolts of God shall fly by him, and do him no 
injury. He cannot be hurt that clings to Jesus. Heaven 
and earth should sooner pass away than a soul be lost 
that hides beneath the boughs of this tree. And oh, 
you who have hidden there to shelter from the wrath of 
God, let me remind you that in every other kind of 
danger it will also yield you shelter ; and, if you are not 
in danger, yet still in the hot days of care you shall find 
the shade of it to be cool and genial. 

" I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and 
his fruit was sweet unto my taste/' Get Christ, and 
you have got comfort, joy, peace, and liberty ; and, when 
the trouble comes, you shall find shelter and deliverance 
by coming near to him. He is the tree of life, then, 
yielding twelve manner of fruits, those fruits being always 
ripe and always ready, for they ripen every month, all 
being free to all who desire them, for the leaves are not for 
the healing of some, but " for the healing of the nations/' 
What a large word ! Then there are enough of these 
leaves for the healing of all the nations that shall ever 
come. Oh ! may God grant that none of you may die 
from spiritual sickness when these leaves can heal you, 
and may none of you be filling yourselves with the sour 
grapes of this world, the poisonous grapes of sin, while 



138 Types and Emblems. 

the sweet fruits of Christ's love are waiting, which would 
refresh you and satisfy you. 

III. And now, I have to show how to get at the 

FRUIT OF THIS TREE OE LIFE. 

That is the main matter. Little does it boot to tell 
that there is fruit, unless we cr*n tell how it can be got 
at. Oh ! I wish that some here really wanted to know 
the way, but I am afraid many care very little about it. 
Dr. Payson had once been out to tea with one of his 
people, who had been particularly hospitable to him, 
and when he was going, the doctor said : — " Well, now, 
Madam, you have treated me exceedingly well, but how 
do you treat my Master? '' That is a question I should 
like to put to some of you. How do you treat my 
Master ? Why, you treat him as if he were not Christy 
as if you did not want him. But, you do need him. 
May you find him soon, for when you come to die, you. 
will want him then, and perhaps then you may not find 
him. 

Well, the way to get the fruit from this tree is by 
faith. That is the hand that plucks the golden apple. 
Canst thou believe? That is the thing. Canst thou 
believe that Jesus is the Son of God ; that he died upon 
the cross? "Yes/' sayest thou, "I believe that." Canst 
thou believe that in consequence of his sufferings he is 
able to save ? " Ay," sayest thou. Canst thou believe 
that he will save thee? Wilt thou trust him to save 
thee? If so, thou art saved. If thy soul comes to 
Jesus, and says — "My Lord, I believe in thee, that 
thou art able to save to the uttermost, and now I throw 
myself upon thee " — that is faith. When Mr. Andrew 
Fuller was going to preach before an association, he rode 



Christ the Tree of Life. 139 

to the meeting on his horse. There had been a good 
deal of rain, and the rivers were very much swollen. 
He got to one river which he had to cross. He looked 
at it, and he was half afraid of the strong current, 
as he did not know the depth. A farmer, who hap- 
pened to be standing by, said — " It is all right, Mr. 
Fuller ; you will get through it all right, sir ; the horse 
will keep its feet/' Mr. Fuller went in, and the water 
got up to the girth, and then up to the saddle, and he 
began to get . uncomfortably wet. Mr. Fuller thought 
he had better turn round, and he was going to do so, 
when the same farmer shouted— " Go on, Mr. Fuller ; 
go on ; I know it is all right ;" and Mr. Fuller said, 
" Then I will go on ; I will go by faith." Now, sinner, 
it is very like that with you. You think that your sins 
are too deep, that Christ will never be able to carry you 
over them ; but, I say to you — It is all right, sinner ; 
trust Jesus, and he will carry you through hell itself, if 
it were needful and possible. If you had all the sins of 
ail the men that have ever lived, and they were all yours, 
if you could trust him, Jesus Christ would carry you 
through the current of all that sin. It is all right, man ! 
Only trust Christ. The river may be deep, but Christ's 
love is deeper still. It is all right, man ! Do not let 
the devil make you doubt my Lord and Master. He is 
a liar from the beginning, and the father of lies, but my 
Master is faithful and true. Rest on him and it is all 
right. The waves may roll, the river may seem to 
be deeper than you thought it to be, and rest assured it 
is much deeper than you know it to be. But the mighty 
arm of Jesus — that strong arm that can shake the 
heavens and the earth, and move the pillars thereof as 



140 Types and Emblems. 

Samson moved the pillars of Gaza's gates — that strong 
arm can hold you up, and bear you safely through, if 
you do but cling to it, and rest in it. Oh soul, rest in 
Jesus, and you are saved ! 

Once again. If at the first you do not seem to get this 
fruit from the tree, shake it by prayer. (( Oh ! " say 
you, " I have been praying/' Yes, but a tree does not 
always drop its fruit at the first shake you give it. 
Shake it again, man ; give it another shake ! And 
sometimes when the tree is loaded, and is pretty firm in 
the earth, you have to shake it to and fro, and at last 
you plant your feet, and get a hold of it, and shake it 
with might and main, till you strain every muscle and 
sinew to get the fruit down. And that is the way to 
pray. Shake the tree of life until the mercy drops into 
your lap. Christ loves for men to beg hard. You can- 
not be too importunate. That which might be disagree- 
able to your fellow-creatures when you beg of them, will 
be agreeable to Christ. Oh ! get ye to your chambers ; 
get ye to your chambers, ye that have not found Christ ! 
To your bed-sides, to your little closets, and " seek the 
Lord while he may be found ; call ye upon him while 
he is near ! " May the Spirit of God constrain you to 
pray. May he constrain you to continue in prayer. 
Jesus must hear you. The gate of heaven is open to 
the sturdy knocker that will not take a denial. The 
Lord enable you so to plead, that at the last you will 
say — " Thou hast heard my voice and my supplication ; 
Thou hast inclined thine ear unto me ; therefore will I 
pray unto thee as long as I live." 

May God add his blessing to these rambling thoughts, 
for Jesus' sake. Amen. 





ilk l<w. 




"Ephra.im also is like a silly dove without heart.*' — Hose a vii. 11. 

HE race of Ephraim is not extinct. Men are to 
this day very much like what they were in the 
days of the prophets. The same rebukes are 
still suitable, as well as the same comforts. 
As man has altered very little, if at all, in his 
outward bodily conformation, so has he not 
varied in the inner constitution ; he is much 
the same to-day as he was in the time of Hosea. In this 
congregation, in the midst of this City of London, we 
have too large a company of those who are " like the 
silly dove without heart." 

To proceed at once with the text, I want you to notice 
four things : first, a saintly similitude ; secondly, a secret 
distinction ; thirdly, a severe description ; and lastly, a 
serious consideration. 

I. Here we have a saintly similitude. "Ephraim is 
like a dove." The people are not compared here to the 
eagle that soareth aloft and scenteth its prey from afar, 
nor to the vulture which delights to gorge itself with 
carrion; they are not likened to any foul and unclean 
bird which was put aside under the law ; but the very 



142 Types and Emblems. 

figure which is constantly chosen to set forth the beauty 
of holiness, to describe the believer, and to picture the 
whole church — nay, that very emblem by which we set 
forth him who is holiness itself, God the Holy Spirit — 
that same comparison to a dove is here used to describe 
those who were without heart. ' ' Ephraim is like a dove " 
— it is a saintly similitude. Let me remind you that in 
all congregations there are those who are like doves, but 
not Christ's doves, who never build their nests in the 
elefts of the rock, in the bosom of the Saviour. They 
are like doves ; you can never tell them from genuine 
believers, and like doves they are perfectly harmless ; 
they do no mischief to others in their lives. Track 
them, if you will, you will never find them in the ale- 
house ; they sing not the song of the drunkard ; no man 
ever loses anything in business by them. Men may 
have their pockets picked in the streets, but never by 
them. Persons may go staggering home under a wound, 
but that wound never comes from their hand ; there is no 
uncleanness in their heart, and no slander on their 
tongue; they are amiable, admirable; we might almost 
hold them up for examples of propriety. Alas ! alas ! 
that we have only to look within to find that they are 
not what they seem. 

Moreover, being like doves for harmlessness, they are 
also like them for loving good company. We find not 
the dove flying with a host of eagles, but it consorts with 
its own kind. And oh, how some of you are never hap- 
pier than when you are either in the Tabernacle or else 
in some of the classes formed by various members of 
the congregation ! You also find such a pleasant excite- 
ment in the prayer-meeting that you are not absent from 



A Silly Dove. 143 

it except when you are prevented by business. You 
love being where God's people go; their hymns are sweet 
to your ears, in their prayers you find some sort of com- 
fort, and in the ministry of the word you take delight. 
You fly like a cloud and like doves to their windows, and 
it is a joy to us to see you do it, and yet it may be that, 
although you know how to congregate like doves, you are 
"like a silly dove without heart." 

Moreover, these persons are still more like the dove, 
in that they have the same meekness, apparently, as dis- 
tinguishes the dove. "They hear as my people hear, 
and sit as my people sit." They are not sceptics ; they 
never object to the exposition of the doctrines to which 
they listen ; they pick no holes in the preacher's coat — 
they have no particular fault to find either with the style 
or the matter of his discourse ; they decorously frequent 
the house of God, and behave themselves in a seemly 
manner when there ; nay, more than that, they do seem 
with meekness to receive the word, though they do not 
receive it as engrafted into their own hearts; they 
even receive it with joy when the seed is scattered on 
them, but having no root in themselves, the good seed 
comes to nothing. Oh, my dear hearers, it is a great 
subject for thanksgiving that so many of you are ready 
and willing to listen to the word with deep and profound 
respect; but I do beseech you to remember that you 
may in this be like unto the dove, and yet, after all that, 
you may be taken in the same net and destroyed with 
the same destruction as that which fell upon the Ephraim- 
ites, who were " like a silly dove without heart." 

The dove, you know, is a cleanly feeder, and so we 
have many who get as far as that. They know the 



144 Types and Emblems. 

distinction between the precious and the vile ; they will 
not feed on law, they can only live on grace ; they have 
come to know the doctrines of the gospel, and they feed on 
them — upon pure corn well winnowed. You have otl.j 
to bring in a little free-will, and straightway they know 
the chaff from the wheat, and refuse to receive it ; they 
cast it away as refuse metal, which is of no value to 
them. But, while they have an orthodox head, they have 
a heterodox heart ; while they know the truth and feel 
it, yet still it is not the right kind of feeling; they have 
never so received it as to incorporate it into their very 
being ; they have accepted it with the same sort of 
belief, and in somewhat the same manner, as Simon did 
in Samaria ; but, after a while, when trouble and perse- 
cution shall come, and wax too hot, they will turn aside. 
But, I have to add yet further here, that there are 
some of these persons who are like doves in another 
respect still more singular. As a dove is molested by 
all sorts of birds of prey, so these persons do for a time 
share the lot which befalls the people of God. Why, 
there are some who for the mere coming to the house of 
God get nicknamed. They are not saints, but they have 
to bear the rebuke of saints ; and I know some, who have 
turned out great sinners, that have for a time put up 
with much scoffing and rebuke for the sake of Christ. 
When pointed at in the street, it has been part of the 
manliness of their character to acknowledge that they 
did frequent such a place of worship. Though their 
soul has never been stricken by the divine word, yet it 
has become so sweet in their ear, that they are willing to 
bear some degree of reproach and scoffing for the sake of 
it. I should not like to be compelled to say precisely 



A Silly Dove. 145 

wherein the saint is to be distinguished by outward signs, 
for really the counterfeits now-a-days are so much like 
the genuine, that it shall need the wisdom of the infallible 
God himself to discern between the one and the other. 
We can have false faith, false repentance, false hope, and 
false good works. We have all sorts of shammings — 
paint, varnish, tinsel — and we may so grain that a skilful 
eye shall scarcely know whether it is the genuine wood 
or the artists' skill. There are ways of preparing metals, 
and sometimes, the alloy shall seem to have in it for 
some purposes qualities which the unalloyed metal might 
lack. O Lord, searcher of hearts, do thou search us, 
lest we should have applied to us saintly names, and 
possess a saintly reputation and character, and hold 
saintly offices, and after all be cast away with the rubbish 
over the wall, and left to be consumed for ever and ever ! 
But, enough on that point. 

II. We have now to call your attention to a secret 
distinction. "Ephraim is like a dove ivithout heart" 

This implies a lack of understanding. The dove knows 
but little, and experience scarcely teaches it anything. 
We may almost spread the snare in the sight of that 
bird, and yet it will fly to it : it is so silly. It does not 
seem to possess, at least to the outward eye, the wits 
and senses of some others of the feathered tribe. It has 
little or no understanding. And oh, how many there are 
who are like the dove externally, and have no real 
knowledge of the truth ! They rest in the letter, and 
think that is enough. I solemnly believe that there are 
thousands that have not the shadow of an idea of the 
meaning of the words which they hear every Sabbath- 
day in a form of prayer. They go through those 

10 



146 Types and Emblems. 

prayers ; that they would do if the words were put in any 
other way. Doubtless they would get as much good out 
of them, if they were thrown together in wild disorder, 
as they do out of the beautiful and magnificent array 
in which they are marshalled. Many who come and 
hear the most simple prayers go away and say, " It is 
a riddle to me ; I cannot understand how people will sit 
and listen to that." Either they condemn them as trite 
or else as fanatical. Tney cannot understand them. You 
may fetch a clodhopper, and set before him the master- 
piece of an eminent old painter, and tell him, "That 
picture is worth sixty thousand pounds." He looks, opens 
his mouth, stares again, and says he can't make anything 
of it ; he can't see where the money could go. He'd sooner 
have carts, and horses, and pigs, and cows, and sheep. 
He sees nothing in that. Well, now, to some extent, we 
might almost sympathise with him; but the high art 
critics despise the man at once for having no soul above 
his clod. And, it is just the same in spiritual things. 
Exhibit the glories of the person of Christ, and the 
matchless wisdom of the plan of salvation ; that man can 
see nothing in it ; " It is, no doubt, a very good and 
very proper thing," he will attend to it, and so on ; and 
then he goes to church, and thinks he is pious, sits in 
his seat, and goes through the routine, and then sup- 
poses he is reconciled to God. Oh ! how many such silly 
doves we have fluttering in and out of our places of 
worship. As a quaint old preacher said, there were scarce 
seats for the saints on account of the number of simple- 
tons that came to listen. 

Butj again, they were silly doves without heart, 
because-, lacking an understanding heart, they also 



A Silly Dove. 147 

lacked a decided heart. Sometimes, however, the dove 
would be slandered if we should use her as a metaphor 
in this respect. Have you not seen the dove, when, 
from afar, with her quick eye, she has seen her cot, fly 
straight away, over miles of sea and land, straight to her 
beloved home ? There she could not be used as a meta- 
phor of the ungodly, but of a child of Jesus, who thus 
flies to him over the wild waves of sin. But, perhaps, 
you have seen the dove as first she rises in the air, and 
then flies round and round. She deliberates in order to 
find out which is the right direction, and, when she has 
made up her mind, away she flies straight as an arrow 
to the goal. But, while she is fluttering about, she is an 
apt emblem of some men. They are undecided whether 
for God or Baal. They halt, to use Elijah's figure, 
between two opinions. " How long halt ye between two 
opinions ? If God be God serve him, but if Baal, then 
follow him." On Sundays they go to church, but on 
Mondays they put it off; the weather is too rough, or 
something else prevents them going to the prayer- 
meeting. On Sunday they say — 

" My willing soul would stay 
In such a frame as this, 
And sit and sing herself away, 
To everlasting bliss." 

But, on Monday or Tuesday the sound of the wheels in 
the street, and the noise of them that buy and sell, put the 
music of Jerusalem out of their ears, and they would 
fain go back to the world again. Ah, they are silly doves, 
without understanding and without decision. Nay, there 
are some who may be said to have a sort of decision for 
a time; but they are like the dove, in that they are 






148 Types and Emblems. 

without resolution. The dove seeks to fly in one direc- 
tion ; somebody claps his hands and she changes in a 
moment ; or else he sprinkles a handful of barley on the 
ground, and, though she was flying yonder, she is over 
here again. How many persons there are of that 
kind, setting their faces to Zion, intending to join the 
church; perhaps they have seen the elders and the 
pastor, and been accepted ; but, after a little time, they 
say, "Well, they did not know all about it; there are 
more frightful things than they dreamt of in it ! " Like 
Pliable, they would go to heaven, but they get into the 
Slough of Despond, and there is queer stuff there that 
gets into the ears and mouth, and so they get out on the 
side nearest home, and tell Christian he may have 
the brave country all to himself, for they don't like the 
miry places on the way. Or, it may be, that some old 
companion comes up from the country, and he will treat 
them to some place of amusement : or, perhaps, it may 
be stronger than that. Or there is the gain to be got in 
some branch of business that is not quite so honest as it 
might be ; but does not the money count as well ? Isn't 
it as good to spend ? Will not other men think it worth 
twenty shillings to the pound, however it may have been 
gained? These people, who seemed so true and warm- 
hearted, are like the silly dove without resolution, and 
fly away again to their old haunts and become just what 
they used to be. 

So likewise there are many, like a dove, without bold 
hearts. They never turn upon a persecutor. They 
never stood in the gap with Mr. Valiant-for- Truth, hold- 
ing the sword in their hand. They cannot open their 
mouth to speak for Jesus, but they run away when they 



A Silly Dove. 149 

ought to stand out like a lion against their foes ; they 
never give a reason for the hope that is in them. We 
have plenty of Baptist churches educating cowards by 
the score. They never come out before the whole 
church — that would be too trying for their nerves. 
They are never expected to come out boldly on the 
Lord's side. Too often baptism is administered somewhere 
in a corner, when as few as possible are present ; and, 
in that way, where we ought to have lion-like men, we 
breed those who hide their principles, and are ready to 
amalgamate with any sect of people so long as they can 
but bear the name of Christians. I would to God, dear 
friends, we had bolder men for our Lord and Master. 
Be as full of love as you can, but take care that you 
mix iron with your constitution. Silly are the doves 
that have no bold heart for God. The day will come 
when only the bold heart shall win, and the faint heart 
shall be shut out as the fearful and unbelieving, who are 
to have their portion in the lake that burnetii with fire 
and brimstone. 

Too many, also, there are like a silly dove, in that they 
have a powerless heart. If you visit a great manufac- 
tory where there is a large engine, you will notice that 
the amount of power used in the factory is proportionate 
to the capacity of the steam-engine. If that should 
work but feebly, then the wheels cannot revolve be- 
yond a proportionate rate, and every part soon dis- 
covers that there is some lack of motive force. Now, 
man's heart is the great steam-engine of his whole 
being ; and if he has a heart that palpitates with swift 
strokes it will set his whole nature in motion, and that 
man will be mighty for his Lord and Master; but if 



150 Types and Emblems. 

he has a little, insignificant heart that never did glow, 
and never did burn, and never did know anything about 
the warmth, and life, and heat, and power, and benedic- 
tion of God's love, then he will fritter away his time, 
knowing the right and doing the wrong, loving in some 
sort the thing that is beautiful, but still following that 
which is deformed ; giving his name to God, and giving 
what little strength he has to the other side. Brethren, 
I would to God there were not so many in all our com- 
munities that have but a pigeon's heart, or a dove's 
heart, or no heart at all. The root of the matter lies 
here : these Ephraimites have not renewed hearts, and 
so they fail. Verily, verily, it is true to this hour as in 
Jesu's day, " Except a man be born again he cannot 
see the kingdom of God." Men do strive to see it in 
their own way. But, until the effectual grace of God 
comes down to turn their hearts from the great and 
extraordinary confidence which their proud flesh has in 
their own works, they never will see, they never can see, 
the kingdom of God. How many like Ephraim, then, 
have the heart altogether wrong because it is not re- 
newed; therefore it has none of those qualifications 
which tend to make the man what he should be. 

III. With great brevity, we notice, in the third place, 
a severe description. "Ephraim is like a silly dove." It 
is a fine word, that word " silly." Hardly do I know 
another that is so eminently descriptive. There may be 
some sort of dignity in being a fool, but to be silly — 
to attract no attention except ridicule — is so utterly bad, 
that I do not know how a more sarcastic epithet could 
be applied. " Ephraim is like a silly dove without 
heart." And why silly ? Why, it is silly, of course, 



A Silly Dove. 151 

to profess to be a dove at all, unless a dove at heart ; 
silly of you to enslave yourselves with the customs of a 
country of which you are not a citizen — to bind your- 
selves with the rules of a family of which you are not a 
member. We find men, when they go to another country, 
if there is a conscription there, only too willing to plead 
their own nationality, in order to escape it ; and yet we 
have persons who will serve in the Christian conscription, 
who give as God's people give, and outwardly do what 
God's people do, and yet they are not of the nation, but 
are aliens from the commonwealth of Israel. Is not this 
silly — to take the irksome toil, and not to get the joy 
and the benefit of it ? You are silly to go and work in 
the vineyard, though you have never eaten of the clusters, 
and never can unless your heart be set right in the 
sight of God. Isn't it silly, then, to profess to be a dove 
at all, and yet not to be a dove ? Isn't it silly, again, to 
think you can pass muster when your heart is wrong — 
to fancy that if you fly with the crowd you shall enter 
heaven without being seen ? Dost thou think to deceive 
Omniscience? Dost thou think Infallible wisdom will 
not discern thee? Dost thou think to enter heaven 
while thy soul is estranged from God ? Then, indeed, 
thou art worse than a fool ; thou art " silly " to think 
such a thing. How canst thou thus hope to deceive thy 
God ? What more silly than to play fast and loose in 
this way ? Silly to sing the song of Zion ; and then the 
song of lasciviousness. There is something dignified 
even in the devil himself; there is something awful 
about the grandeur of his wickedness, because he is con- 
sistent in it ; but, there is nothing of that in you, 
because you are here and there, everywhere and nowhere. 



152 Types and Emblems. 

You are this and that — everything by turns and nothing 
long. And don't you see what you do? Some of you 
are so silly as to hasten your own condemnation. You 
know that to be without God and without Christ will ruin 
you, and yet you do that which keeps you from going to 
Christ ; you hug the sins that prevent your laying hold 
on him, and still dandle upon your knee the lusts which 
you know will shut the gates of heaven against you. 
Like Ephraim you are silly enough to trust in that 
which will be your ruin. Some of you rest upon good 
works, or hope to be saved by good feelings. You go to 
Egypt and to Assyria. The two powers which had op- 
pressed Ephraim were still the powers in which he 
trusted. You are silly again, because when there is so 
much danger you do not fly to the place of shelter. O 
silly dove, when the hawk is abroad not to seek the 
clefts of the rock to hide itself in its dove-cot ! And 
how silly are some of you ? Day after day, year after 
year, Satan is hawking after you ; the great fowler is 
seeking your destruction ; but the wounds of Christ are 
open to you, and the invitation of the gospel is freely 
given to you, and yet, so silly are you, that though you 
know better, you prefer the pleasures of the day to the 
joys of eternity. Yet I know not that you do prefer 
them, only somehow or other you are too silly to take 
the preference, and you go on like a child that is play- 
ing on the hole of the cockatrice, making mirth over your 
damnation, too artless, too silly to make up your minds 
either for heaven or hell. I know there are some 
such in this house. Would God that the arrow would 
find out the right persons ; but too often these doves 
are so silly in another respect that they will not let the 



A Silly Dove. 153 

appeals come home to them. They say, " It can't be for 
me, for I go to Mr. A's or Mrs. B's class ; it can't be for 
me, for I go to the prayer- meeting ; I contribute to the 
College, and every good work;" yet all the while it 
means jnst you who act upon your own whims, but not 
for God, who give God anything but your heart, who 
are ready to make a sacrifice of all, except that you 
refuse that which he asks of you — " My son, give me 
thine heart" It was considered to be a sign of great 
calamity when the Roman augur slew a bullock and 
found no heart, and it is the worst of all calamities when 
a man has no heart to give to God. " This people 
draweth nigh to me with their lips, but their heart is far 
from me/' is one of the complaints against Israel of old, 
and one of the sins which made the prophets weep, and 
Jerusalem to be ploughed like a field. 

IV. I close with just a word upon the fourth point, 
and that is, a serious consideration. There are one or 
two things I would say solemnly, softly, and hopefully. 
O that they may stick upon the memory and the con- 
science of many. 

Those of you, my hearers, who have been long sitting in 
this tabernacle, some of you ever since it was built, and 
before then in other places under our ministry for 
many years past, and yet are just the same as you used 
to be, ought to recollect how sadly we look on those 
who are not saved. It is no rare thing to find the 
attendant of the sanctuary an unbeliever. It is a com- 
mon thing to find the child of converted parents, the 
lad educated at the Sabbath-school, the man who has 
always had a seat in God's house, still having no hope 
and without God in the world. Think of that! Be 



154 Types and Emblems, 

not deceived ; the gospel will harden such people as 
you are. Speaking after the manner of men (for with 
God all things are possible, and a sovereign God doeth 
as he wills), it does seem less and less probable that you 
ever should be called by grace after you have sat and 
listened to the Word so long. The voice that did startle 
now soothes you; the manner that once attracted the 
eye, and sometimes seemed to touch the heart, fails to 
do either ; and the very truth that once went over your 
heads like a crash of thunder has so little force in it 
now, that you sleep under the sound thereof. Think of 
that, you that are like a silly dove without heart. He- 
member, too, that some of the vilest sinners that have 
ever lived have been manufactured out of this raw 
material. Some of the grossest men were once credu- 
lous and apparently meek-hearted hearers of the Word, 
but they sat under the preaching of the gospel till they 
grew ripe enough to deny God and curse him. The 
unsanctified hearing of the gospel has sometimes pro- 
duced more gigantic specimens of sin than the deaf ear of 
the adder. Beware, my hearer ! I know you will say 
with Hazael, " Am I a dog that I should do this thing ? " 
Yes, there is dog and devil enough in you, unless 
you have been changed by grace, to do that thing 
and twenty other things that you have never dreamt of 
yet. Think what a multitude of souls in hell there are 
like you — silly doves without heart. Many of the popu- 
lation of that place of wailing once heard the gospel, 
heard it with gladness, and received it for a time. But 
they had no root, and so the impression withered away. 
They never had been called effectually by grace, and 
never had been renewed, although they had all the out- 



A Silly Dove, 155 

ward semblances of holiness. They have gone ! You 
might hear their howls if ye had ears. Hark ! Even now, 
your soul may listen to their groans and moans^ the lesson 
of all which would be, " Make your calling and election 
sure, and be not satisfied with the name to live while you 
are dead." May the Spirit of the living God stir you up 
to this ; for, if not, I have one more consideration, 
— Remember how soon you may be in hell yourself. 
And they who go there, if they have been such as you 
are, go there with a vengeance. To go from under the 
shadow of the pulpit to the pit is terrible. To go from 
the sacramental cup in the church to drink the cup 
of devils ; from the song of saints to the weeping, and 
wailing, and gnashing of teeth of lost souls; from all 
the hallowed joys of God's Sabbath, of God's house, 
and of his Word, down to the unutterable infamy of 
spirits that have no love to God, but curse him day and 
night, — my hearers, that may be your lot within an hour, 
a week, a year. It matters not what the period may be, 
for, if it ever be your lot, the time past shall seem to 
have been but the twinkling of an eye for its joy, though 
it may appear to you to have been ages for the awful 
responsibility which the day of mercy will have entailed 
upon you. " Repent and be baptised every one of you." 
As Peter said so say I. If ye have not as yet received 
Christ lay hold on eternal life, and oh that the Spirit of 
the living God, while I generally preach the Word, may 
particularly apply it, finding out his own chosen and 
gathering them out of the ruins of the Tall, that they 
may be jewels in the crown of the Redeemer. The 
Lord make us doves, but God forbid that we should be 
" silly doves without heart". 




wf $myt> 



" Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee, that it may be 
displayed because of the truth." — Psalm Ls. 4. 




OST writers upon this Psalm, after having 
referred the banner to the kingdom of 
David, say that there is here a reference 
to the Messiah. We believe there is. 
Nor is that reference an obscure allusion. 
In the Lord Jesus we find the clue to the 
history and the solution of the prophecy. 
He is the banner — he is the ensign that is lifted 
up before the people. He is the Jehovah Nissi, " the 
Lord my banner/' whom it is our joy to follow, and 
around whom it is our delight to rally. We shall not 
stay to prove this, though we might readily do so. The 
banner here intended is no other than the Lord Jesus 
Christ in the majesty of his person — in the efficacy of 
his merit — in the completeness of his righteousness — in 
the sureness of his triumph — in the glory of his advent. 
If you read it, with an eye to him, you have the mean- 
ing at once : " Thou hast given Christ as a banner to 
them that fear thee, to be displayed because of the 
truth." Now let us consider our Lord Jesus Christ — 
first, as he is compared to a banner ; secondly, by whom 






Our Banner. 157 

he is given ; thirdly, to whom he is given ; and fourthly, 
for what purpose. 

I. The banner was far more useful, I suppose, in 
ancient than it is in modern warfare. Times have 
changed, and we are changed by them. Yet we speak 
with reverence still of the old flag. There is still some 
meaning when we say — " The flag that's braved a thou- 
sand years the battle and the breeze/'' The soldier still 
loves the flag of his country, and the sailor still looks 
with patriotic pride to the flag that so long floated at 
England's mast head. Our metaphor, however, rather 
points to ancient than present usage. 

We should notice, first of all, that the banner was 
lifted up and displayed as the point of union. When a 
leader Was about to gather troops for a war he hoisted 
his banner, and then every man rallied to the standard. 
The coming to the standard, the rallying round the 
banner, was the joining with the Prince, the espousing 
his cause. In the day of battle, when there was ever a 
difficulty and a likelihood that the host would be put to 
flight, the valiant men all fought around the banner. 
Its defence was of the first and chief consequence. 
They might leave the baggage for awhile, they might 
forsake the smaller flags of the divisions, but the great 
banner, the blood-red banner that with prayer had been 
consecrated — they must all gather round it and there 
shed their best blood. Christ, my brethren, is tlie 
point of union for all the soldiers of the cross. I know 
of no other place where all Christians can meet. We 
cannot all meet — I am sorry that we cannot — at the 
baptismal stream. There are some who will not be 
baptised. They persist still in the sin of putting drops 



158 Types and Emblems. 

of water for the ordained flood, and bringing infants 
where faith is required. We cannot all meet even around 
the table of the Eucharist ; there are some who put 
aside their brethren, because they do not see eye to eye 
with them; and even the table of the Lord's Supper 
has become sometimes a field of battle. But, we can 
meet in the person of Christ ; all true hearts can meet 
in the work of Christ. This is a gospel that we all love, 
if we be Christians, and far hence be those who are not. 
Hither to thy cross, O Jesus, do we come. The church- 
man, laden with his many forms and vestments ; the 
Presbyterian, with his stern covenant and his love of 
those who stained the heather with their blood; the 
Independent, with his passion for free liberty and the 
separateness of the churches ; the Methodist, with his 
various intricate forms of ehurch Government, some- 
times forms of bondage, but still forms of power ; the 
Baptist, remembering the ancient pedigree and the days 
in which his fathers were hounded even by Christians 
themselves, and counted not worthy of that name — 
they come, they come ! Multitudes of opinion divide 
them ; they see not eye to eye ; here and there they 
will have a skirmish for the old landmarks ; and rightly 
so, for we ought to be jealous, as Josiah was, to do that 
which is right in the sight of the Lord, and neither 
decline to the right hand nor to the left. But, to the 
cross ! To the cross ! To the cross ! and then, all 
weapons of internecine war being cast aside, we are 
brethren, fellow-comrades in blessed evangelical alliance ; 
we are prepared to suffer and to do for his dear sake. 
Forward then, Christians, to the point of union ! Much 
as I value thorough reformation in times of peace, little 



Our Banner. 159 

care I for aught beside the cross in the day we defend 
our coasts, or when the hosts go forth to battle. Is our 
crusade against the powers of darkness ? With the sal- 
vation of sinners for my one undivided aim, little care I 
for anything but the lifting up of my Master's Gospel, 
and the proclamation of the Word of mercy through 
his flowing blood. 

Again, the banner, in time of war, was the great 
guide-star; it was the direction to the soldier. You 
will remember what special care they took in the day of 
battle that in case the standard-bearer should fall there 
might still be some means of guiding the warriors. 

" And if my standard-bearer fall, as fall full well he may; 
For never saw I promise yet of such a deadly fray, 
Press where ye see my snow-white plume amid the ranks of war, 
And be your oriflamme to-day the helmet of Navarre." 

So to this day the cross is the great guide of the 
Christian in the day of battle. There is no fear that it 
shall ever fall ; we need not be alarmed that Jesus 
Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever, shall 
ever fail. Fix your eye upon him, Christian — " looking 
unto Jesus " — and if you would know which way to fight, 
fight in his footsteps, imitate his every action, be your 
life his life, be your death his death. Let it be life 
by virtue of the death : never need you stop to ask 
directions ; the life of Christ is the Christian's charge. 
You need not turn to your fellow-believer, and say, 
"Comrade, what are we to do just now? The smoke 
of battle gathers and the cries are various ; which way 
shall I go?" Looking unto Jesus, the Author and 
Finisher of your faith, who, for the joy that was set 
before hi n, endured the cross, despising the shame, and 



100 Types and Emblems. 

is set down at the right hand of the throne of God, press 
forward, saying, " God hath given to me a banner 
because of the truth/' In these two respects, as the 
central point for rallying, and as the direction to the 
warrior, Christ is our banner. 

And the banner, let it be remembered, is always tht 
object of chief attack. The moment the adversary sees 
it, his object is to strike there. If it be not the most 
vulnerable point, it shall be at least the point where the 
adversary's power is most felt. Did they not of old aim 
their shots at the flagstaff to cut down the banner? 
Whenever the old Knights of the Red Cross fought the 
Saracens they always endeavoured to make their steel 
ring upon the helmet of men whose hand held the 
crescent, the standard of Mohammed ; ever the fight 
was bloodiest around the standard. Sometimes, when 
the battle was over, if you walked the field you would 
see it strewn with legs and arms and mangled bodies 
everywhere. In one place there would be a heap where 
they were piled one upon another, a great mountain of 
flesh and armour, broken bones and smashed skulls, 
and you would ask, " What is this ? How came they 
here? How trampled they so one upon another, and 
fought in pools of human blood ? '' The answer would 
be, "'Twas there the standard-bearer stood, and first 
the adversary made a dash and stole the banner, and 
then fifty knights vowed to redeem it, and they dashed 
against their foes and took it by storm, and then again 
hand to hand they fought with the banner between 
them, first in one hand and then in another, changing 
ownership each hour. Well, dear friends, Christ Jesus 
has always been the object of attack. You will remember 



Our Banner. 161 

when justice came forth against the elect it made five 
rents in the great banner, and those five rents all 
glorious are in that banner still. Since that day many 
a shot has sought to riddle, but not one has been able 
to touch it. Borne aloft first by one hand and then by 
another, the mighty God of Jacob being the strength 
of the standard bearers, that flag has bidden defiance to 
the leaguered hosts of the flesh and the devil ; but 
never has it been trailed in the mire, and never once 
carried in jeering triumph by the adversary. Blessed 
are the rents in the banner ! for they are the symbol 
of our victory. Those five wounds in the person of the 
Saviour are the gates of heaven to us. But, thank 
God, there are no more wounds to be endured. The 
person of our Lord is safe. His gospel, too, is an un- 
wounded gospel, and his mystical body is uninjured. 
"Not a bone of him shall be broken." Yes; the 
gospel is unharmed after all the strife of ages. The 
infidel threatens to rend the gospel to pieces, but it is 
as glorious as ever ; modern scepticism sought to pull it 
thread from thread, but has not been able so much as to 
rend a fragment of it. Every now and then fresh ad- 
versaries have found out some new methods of induc- 
tion or declamation, essaying to prove the gospel to be 
a lie, and Christ an impostor. Have they succeeded ? 
Nay, verily, they all have to fly the field. The good old 
banner of the Lord Omnipotent, even Christ Jesus, still 
stands erect above them all. We have had, therefore, 
three things — the rallying point, the guide-star, the 
object of attack. 

And why should the banner be the object of attack 
but for this very reason, that it is the symbol of defiance. 

11 



163 Types and Emblems. 

As soon as ever the banner is lifted up, it is, as it "were, 
napped in the face of the foe. It seems to say to him, 
" Do your worst — come on ! We are not afraid of you 
■ — we defy you ! " So, when Christ is preached, there is 
a defiance given to the enemies of the Lord. Every 
time a sermon is preached in the power of the Spirit, 
it is as though the shrill clarion woke up the fiends of 
hell, for every sermon seems to say to them, " Christ is 
come forth again to deliver his lawful captives out of 
your power; the King of kings has come to take away 
your dominions, to wrest from you your stolen treasures, 
and to proclaim himself your Master." Oh, there is a 
stern joy that the minister sometimes feels when he 
thinks of himself as the antagonist of the powers of 
hell. Martin Luther seems always to have felt it when 
he said, "Come, let us sing the forty-sixth Psalm, and let 
the devil do his worst ! " Why, that was lifting up his 
standard — the standard of the cross. If you want to 
defy the devil, don't go about preaching philosophy ; 
don't sit dowm and write out fine sermons, with long 
sentences, three quarters of a mile in extent; don't try 
and cull fine, smooth phrases that will sound sweetly in 
people's ears. The devil doesn't care a bit for this; 
but talk about Christ, preach about the sufferings of a 
Saviour, tell sinners that there is life in a look at him, 
and straightway the devil taketh great umbrage. Why, 
look at many of the ministers in London ! They preach 
in their pulpits from the first of January to the last of 
December, and nobody finds fault with them, because 
they will prophesy such smooth things. But let a man 
preach Christ, let him declaim about the power of Jesus 
to save, and press home gospel truth with simplicity 



Our Banner. 163 

and boldness, straightway the fiends of darkness will be 
against you ; and, if they cannot bite, they will show that 
they can howl and bark. There is a defiance, I say, it is 
God's defiance ; his gauntlet thrown down to the con- 
federated powers of darkness, a gauntlet which they dare 
not take up, for they know what tremendous power for 
good there is in the uplifting of the cross of Christ. Wave, 
then, your banner, O ye soldiers of the cross ; each in 
your place and rank keep watch and ward, but wave 
your banner still; for though the adversary shall be 
wroth, it is because lie knoweth that his time is short 
when once the cross of Christ is lifted up. 

We have not quite exhausted the metaphor yet. The 
banner was ever a source of consolation to the wounded. 
There he lies, the good knight ; right well has he fought 
without fear and without reproach ; but a chance arrow 
pierced the joints of his harness, and his life is oozing 
out from the ghastly wound. There is no one there to 
unbuckle his helmet or give him a, draught of cooling- 
water ; his frame is locked up in that hard case of steel, 
and though he feels the smart he cannot gain the remedy. 
He hears the cries, the mingled cries, the hoarse shouts 
of men that rush in fury against their fellows : and he 
opens his eyes— as yet he has not fainted with his bleed- 
ing. Where, think you, does he look ? He turns him- 
self round. What is he looking for? For friend? For 
comrade ? No. Should they come to him he would 
say, " Just lift me up, and let me sit against that tree 
awhile, and bleed here; but go you to the fight." 
Where, where is that restless eye searching, and what is 
the object for which it is looking? Yes, he has it ; and 
the face of the dying man is brightened. He sees the 



164 Types and Emblems, 

banner still waving, and with his last breath he cries, 
" On ! on ! on ! " and falls asleep content, because the 
banner is safe. It has not been cast down. Though he 
has fallen, yet the banner is secure. Even so every 
true soldier of the cross rejoices in its triumph. We 
fall, but Christ does not. We die, but the cause 
prospers. As I have told you before, when my heart 
was most sad — sad as it never was before nor since 
— that sweet text, " Him hath God the Father exalted, 
and given him a name that is above every name/' quite 
cheered my soul, and set me again in peace and com- 
fort. Is Jesus safe? Then it never matters what 
becomes of me. Is the banner right? Doth it wave 
on high ? Then the fight is ours still ; the adversary 
hath not won the day. He hath felled one and another, 
but he himself shall be broken in pieces, for the banner 
still glares in the sun. 

And, lastly, the banner is the emblem of victory. 
When the fight is done, and the soldier cometh home, 
whatbringeth he? His blood-stained flag. And what 
is borne highest in the procession as it winds through 
the streets ? It is the flag. They hang it in the minster ; 
high up there in the roof, and where the incense 
smoketh, and where the song of praise ascendeth, there 
hangs the banner, honoured and esteemed, borne in 
conflict and in danger. Now, our Lord Jesus Christ 
shall be our banner in the last day, when all our foes 
shall be under our feet. A little while, and he that will 
come shall come, and will not tarry. A little while, 
and we shall see Jehovah's banner furled. 

" Sheathed his sword ; he speaks ! 'tis done, 
And the kingdoms of this world are the kingdoms of his Son." 






Our Banner, 165 

And then Jesus, high above us all, shall be exalted, and 
through the streets of the holy city the acclamations 
shall ring, " Hosanna, Hosanna, blessed is he that 
cometh in the name of the Lord." 

II. Let us turn to our second point for a moment. It 
is this: Who gave us the banner? By whom given? 
Soldiers often esteem the colours for the sake of the 
person who first bestowed them. You and I ought to 
esteem the gospel of our precious Christ for the sake of 
God who gave him to us. " Thou hast given a banner." 
God gave us the banner in old eternity. Christ was 
given by the eternal Father, from everlasting, or ever 
the earth was, to his elect people, to be the Messiah of 
God, the Saviour of the world. He was given in the 
manger, when the word was made flesh, and dwelt 
among us. He was given upon the cross, when the 
Father bestowed every drop of the Son's blood, and 
every nerve of his body, and every power of his 
soul, to bleed and die, the just for the unjust, to 
bring us to God. " Thou hast given us a banner." 
That banner was given to each one of us in the day of 
our conversion. Christ became from that time forth, 
our glory and our boast. And he is given to some of us, 
especially, when we are called to the ministry, or when 
the Holy Spirit's guidance puts us upon any extraordi- 
nary work for Christ. Then is the banner in a direct 
and especial manner committed to our care. I know 
there are some here who have had this banner given them 
to carry it in the midst of the Sunday-school. Some 
of you have it. A dear sister here has it. A beloved 
brother has it to bear it in the midst of many of this 
congregation. The young men of our College, of our 



166 Types and Emblems. 

evening classes, and many others of you have that 
banner, that you may bear it in the streets, that you 
may lift up the name of Jesus in the causeways, and in 
the places of assembly. And, in a certain 'measure, 
shall all of you have that banner given to you, that in 
your sphere of duty you may talk of Jesus, and lift up 
his dear name. 

Now, inasmuch as God himself gives the banner, 
with what reverence should we look upon it, with what 
ardour should we cluster round it, with what zeal should 
we defend it, with what enthusiasm should we follow it, 
with what faith and confidence should we rush even 
into death itself for its defence ! 

III. Ask again, to whom is this banner given? Th& 
text says, "Thou hast given a banner to them that fear 
thee' 3 Not to all men. God has a chosen people. 
These chosen people are known in due time by their 
outward character. That outward grace-wrought cha- 
racter is this, they fear God. Now, they that fear God 
are the only persons that ought to carry the banner. 
Shall the banner be put in the drunkard's hands? Shall 
the great truth of Christ be left to those who live in 
sin ? Oh, it is a wretched thing when men come into 
the pulpit to preach who have never known and felt the 
power of the Gospel themselves. Time was, but times 
are changed somewhat, when in multitudes of our parish 
pulpits men whose characters were unhallowed preached 
to others what they never practised themselves. To 
such the banner ought not to be given. Men must fear 
God, or else they are not worthy to bear it. Moreover, 
none but these can bear it. "What they bear is not the 
banner ; it is but an imitation of it. It is not Christ 



Our Banner. 167 

they preach ; it is a diluted thing that is not the gospel 
of Jesus. They cannot proclaim it to others till they 
know it themselves. It is given to them that fear God, 
because they will have courage to bear it. Fear is often 
the mother of courage. To fear God makes a man brave. 
To fear man is cowardly, I grant ; but to fear God with 
humble awe and holy reverence is such a noble passion 
that I would we were more and more full thereof, blend- 
ing, as it were, the fear of Isaac with the faith of 
Abraham. To fear God will make the weakest of us 
play the man, and the most craven of us become heroes 
for the Lord our God. Now, inasmuch as this banner 
is given to those that fear God, if you fear God it is 
given to you. I do not know in what capacity you are 
to bear it, but I do know there is somewhere or other 
where you have to carry it. Mother, let the banner 
wave in your household. Merchant, let your banner be 
fixed upon your house of business. Let it be unfurled and 
fly at your masthead, O sailor. Bear your banner, O 
soldier, in your regiment. Yours is a stern duty_, for 
alas, the Christian soldier hath a path of trial that few 
men have trodden. God make you faithful, and may you 
be honoured as the good soldiers of Jesus Christ. Some of 
you are poor, and work hard in the midst of many 
artisans who fear not God. Take your banner with you. 
Never be ashamed of your colours. You cannot be long 
in a workshop before your companions will pull their 
colours out. They will soon begin talking to you about 
their sinful pleasures, their amusements, perhaps their 
infidel principles. Take your banner out likewise. Tell 
them that it is a game two can play at ; never allow a 
man to show his banner without your showing yours. 



168 Types and Emblems. 

Don't do it ostentatiously ; do it humbly, but do it 
earnestly and sincerely. Remember your banner is one 
that you never need be ashamed of; the best of men 
have fought under it ; nay, he who was God as well as 
man hath his own name written on the escutcheon. 
Surely, then, you need not be ashamed to wave it any 
where and everywhere. You can think bravely ; now be 
great in act as you have been in thought ! 

" Presence of mind and courage in distress 
Are more than armies to procure success." 

IV. And, indeed, this was our last question — what 
was this banner given to us for ? Our text is very ex- 
plicit. It was giv*m to us to be u displayed because of 
the truth." It was to be displayed. In order to dis- 
play a banner, you must take it out of its case. 
Members of this congregation, brethren in the church, 
I pray you study the Scriptures much. I would not 
have men attempt to preach unless they have some 
power. To go forth without some study would be like 
a man attempting to do execution with a gun that had 
much powder in it and no shot. Do unfurl the banner ; 
to this end husband well your time. Young men, save 
your spare hours to study the Bible. Steal them from 
your sleep if you cannot get them anyhow else. Sunday- 
school teachers; be diligent in your preparations for 
your classes. Get your banner out of the case. It is 
of little service lifting it up in the midst of the ranks 
.without its being unfurled. See that ye know the holy 
art of unfurling it. Practise it ; study it ; be well 
acquainted with him who is the wisdom of God and the 
power of God. And after the flag is unfurled, it needs 
to be lifted up. So, in order to display Christ, you must 



Our Banner. 169 

lift him up. Lift him up with a clear voice as one that 
has something to say that he would have men hear. 
Speak of him boldly as one who is not ashamed of his 
message. Speak affectionately, speak passionately, speak 
with your whole soul, let your whole heart be in every 
word you say, for this it is to lift up the banner. But 
besides lifting up the banner you must carry it, for it is 
the business of the standard-bearer not merely to hold 
it in one place, but to bear it here and there if the plan 
of battle shall change. So bear Christ to the poor 
lodging-houses, to the workhouses, to the prisons, if you 
can get admittance, to the back streets, to the dark 
slums, to the cellars, to the solitary attic, to the crowded 
rooms, to the highways and the byeways ; and you 
especially who are private Christians, and not preachers, 
bear it from house to house. We had a com- 
plaint the other day that some of you had been going 
from house to house to try and talk to others about 
their souls ; you had entrenched upon the parochial 
bounds of the authorised gamekeeper. I pray you 
entrench again. What is my parish ? The whole world 
is my parish; let the whole world be your parish 
likewise. What does it matter to us if the world be 
parcelled out amongst men who probably do little or 
nothing. Let us do all we can. No man hath any right to 
say to me, "Visit in such and such a district, not here — ■ 
this is my ground." Who gave it to you ? Who gave 
him lordship of the world or any portion of it ? " The 
earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." The earth 
is your field, and no matter upon whose district, terri- 
tory, or parish. Let me encourage you that love the 
Saviour. You have the pure gospel ; go and spread it. 



170 Types and Emblems. 

Let nothing confine you, or limit your labours, except 
your strength and your time. Still, after all, if we 
carry the gospel, and lift up the banner, it will 
never be displayed even then, unless there is wind to 
blow it. A banner would only hang like a dead flag 
upon the staff if there were no wind. Now, we cannot 
produce the wind to expand the banner, but we can 
invoke heavenly aid. Prayer becomes a prophecy 
when ye say, " Awake, O heavenly wind, and blow, and 
let this banner be displayed." The Holy Spirit is that 
gracious wind who shall make the truth apparent in the 
hearts of those who hear it. Display the banner, talk 
of Christ, live Christ, proclaim Christ everywhere. He 
is given to you for this very purpose. Therefore, let not 
your light be hid or put under a bushel. " Ye are the 
light of the world. Let your light shine before men.'* 
Let the old flag be held up by fresh hands. Go ye fortk 
in new times, with new resolves, and may ye have con- 
stant renewings as new opportunities open before you. 

Oh, but are there not some of you who could not bear 
this banner? Let me invite such to come and take 
shelter under it. My Master's banner, wherever it goes, 
gives liberty. Under the banner of Old England there 
never breathes a slave. They tread our country, they 
breathe our air, and their shackles fall. Beneath the 
banner of Christ no slave can live. Do but look up to 
Jesus, relying upon his suffering in your stead, and 
bearing your sins in your place and room, and forthwith 
you shall have acceptance in the Beloved, and the peace 
of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your 
heart and mind through Jesus Christ. So may God 
enlist you beneath his banner to his glory. Amen. 



fm ^Iptitfti 



"And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and took 
the doors of the .gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away 
with them, bar and all, and put thern upon his shoulders, and carried 
them up to the top of an hill that is before Hebron." — Judges xvi. &, 




* OOE, Samson ! We cannot say much about 
him by way of an example to believers. We 
must hold him up in two lights — as a beacon 
and as a prodigy. He is a beacon to us al^ 
for he shows us that no strength of body can 
suffice to deliver from weakness of mind. 
Here was a man whom no fellow-man could 
overcome, but he lost his eyes through a woman — a 
man mighty enough to rend a lion like a kid, yet, in due 
time, though himself stronger than a lion, he is bound 
with chains. When I think of the infatuation of which 
Samson was the subject, and remember how we are men 
of like passions with him, I can only, for myself and for 
you, put up the prayer, " Lord, hold thou me up, and I 
shall be safe." And Samson is also a prodigy. He is 
more a wonder as a believer than he is even as a man. 
It is marvellous that a man could smite thousands of 
Philistines with no better weapon than the jaw-bone of 



172 Types and Emblems. 

a newly-killed ass, but it is more marvellous still that 
Samson should be a saint, ranked among those illustrious 
ones saved by faith, though such a sinner. St. Paul 
has put him among the worthies in the eleventh chapter 
of the Hebrews. Paul wrote by inspiration. Therefore, 
there can be no mistake about it — Samson was saved. 
Indeed, when I see his child-like faith, the way in which 
he dashed against the Philistines, hip and thigh, and 
smote them with a great slaughter — the way in which 
he cast aside all reckonings and probabilities, and in 
simple confidence in his God cast himself about to do 
the most tremendous feats of valour — when I see this, 
I cannot but wonder and admire. The Old Testament 
biographies were never written for our imitation, but 
they were written for our instruction. Upon this one 
matter, what a volume of force there is in such lessons ! 
" See," says God, " what faith can do. Here is a man, 
full of infirmities, a sorry fool ; yet, through his child- 
like faith, he lives. The just shall live by faith. He 
has many sad flaws and spots, but his heart is right 
towards God; he does trust in his Lord, and he does 
give himself up as a consecrated man to his Lord's 
service, and, therefore, he shall be saved." I look upon 
Samson's case as a great wonder, put in Scripture for 
the encouragement of great sinners. If such a man as 
Samson, nevertheless, prevails by faith to enter the 
kingdom of heaven, so shall you and I. Though our 
characters may have been disfigured by many vices, and 
hitherto we may have committed a multitude of sins, 
if we can trust Christ to save us he will purge us with 
hyssop, and we shall be clean ; he will wash us, and we 
shall be whiter than snow ; and in our death we shall 



Our Champion. 17$ 

fall asleep in the arras of sovereign mercy to wake up 
in the likeness of Christ. 

But, I am going to leave Samson alone, except as he 
may furnish us with a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
Samson, like many other Old Testament heroes, was a 
type of our Lord. He is specially so in this case. I 
shall invite you to look at Christ rather than Samson. 
First, come and behold our Champion at his work ; then, 
let us go and survey the work when he has accomplished 
it ; and, thirdly, let us inquire what use we can make 
of the work which he has performed. 

I. Come with me, then, brethren, and look at our 
mighty champion at his work. You remember when 
our Samson, our Lord Jesus, came down to the Gaza 
of this world, 'twas love that brought him ; love to a 
most unworthy object, for he loved the sinful church 
which had gone astray from him many and many times • 
yet came he from heaveu, and left the ease and delights 
of his Father's palace to put himself among the Philis- 
tines, the sons of sin and Satan here below. It was 
rumoured among men that the Lord of glory was in the 
world, and straightway they took counsel together how 
they should slay him. Herod makes a clean sweep of 
all the children of two years old and under, that he may 
be sure to slay the new-born Prince. Afterwards scribes- 
and priests and lawyers hunt and hound him. Satan 
tempts him in the wilderness, and provokes him when 
in public. Death also pursues him, for he has marked 
him as his prey. At last the time comes when the 
triple host of the Saviour's foes has fairly environed 
him and shut him in. They have dragged him before 
Pilate ; they have scourged him on the pavement ; they 



174 Types and Emblems, 

drag him while his back drips on the stones of Jerusalem's 
streets ; they pierce his hands and his feet ; they lift him 
up, a spectacle of scorn and suffering ; and now, while 
dying in pangs extreme, and especially when he closes 
his eyes, and cries out, " It is finished," sin, Satan, and 
death all feel that they have the Champion safe. There 
he lies silently in the tomb. He who is to bruise the 
serpent's head is himself bruised. O thou who art the 
world's great Deliverer, there thou liest, as dead as 
any stone ! Surely thy foes have led thee captive, O 
thou mighty Samson ! He sleeps ; but think not that he 
is unconscious of what is going on. He knows every- 
thing. He sleeps till the proper moment comes, and 
then our Samson awakes ; and what now ? He is in 
the tomb, and his foes have set a guard and a seal that 
they may keep him there. "Will any help him now to 
escape out of their charge? Is there any man that will 
give his aid now ? No, there is none ! If the Champion 
escapes it must be by his own single-handed valour. 
Will he make a clear way for himself, and come up from 
the midst of his foes ? You know he will, my brethren, 
for the moment the third day is come he touches the 
stone, and it is rolled away. He has defeated death ; 
he has pulled up his posts and bar, and taken away his 
gates. As for sin he treads that beneath his feet : he 
has utterly o'erthrown it, and Satan lies broken beneath 
the heel that once was bruised. He has broken the 
dragon's head, and cut his power in pieces. Solitary 
and alone, his own arm brings salvation, and his right- 
eousness sustains him. Methinks I see him now as he 
goes up that hill which is before Hebron — the hill of 
God. He bears upon his shoulders the o'erthrown gates, 



Our Champion. 175 

the tokens of his victory over death and hell. Posts 
and gates and bar and all, he bears them up to heaven. 
In sacred triumph he drags our enemies behind him. 
Sing to him ! Angels, praise him in your hymns ! Exalt 
him, cherubim and seraphim ! Our mightier Samson 
hath gotten to himself the victory, and cleared the road 
to heaven and eternal life for all his people ! Ye know 
the story. I have told it ill, but it is the most magni- 
ficent of all stories that e'er were told. 6t Arms, and the 
man, I sing/' said one of old ; but the cross and of him 
I sing. 'Tis mine to tell of him who espoused the cause 
of his people, and, though for awhile captive and bound, 
broke the green withs, and having gained the victory 
for himself, liberated others also, then goes at the head 
of his people along the way which he has opened — a way 
which leadeth to the right hand of God. 

II. Let us go now, dear brethren, and calmly con- 
sider the work itself. 

We will stand at the gates of this Gaza, and see what 
the Champion has done. Those are ponderous hinges, 
and they must have held up huge doors. We will look 
-at these doors, and posts, and this bar. Why, it is a 
mass of iron that scarce ten men could lift, and it might 
take fifty more to carry those huge doors. They scarce 
were moved even on their hinges without the efforts of 
some dozen men ; and yet this one man carried them all, 
and I read not that his shoulders were bent or that 
he grew weary. Seven miles at least Samson carried 
that tremendous load, up hill all the way too ! Still he 
bore it all without staggering, nor do I find that he was 
faint as he was aforetime at Ramath-lehi. 
* I will not linger upon Samson's exploits. Rather 



176 Types and Emblems. 

would I draw your thoughts to the Captain of our sal- 
vation. See what Christ has carried away. I said that 
he had three enemies. These three beset him, and he 
has achieved a threefold victory. 

There was death. My dear friends, Christ, in being- 
first overcome by death, made himself a conqueror over 
death, and hath given us also the victory; for concern- 
ing death we may truly say, Christ has not only opened 
the gates, but he has taken them away ; and not the 
gates only, but the very posts, and the bar, and all, 
Christ hath abolished death, and brought life and immor- 
tality to light. He hath abolished it in this sense — 
that, in the first place, the cause of death is gone. Be- 
lievers die, but they do not die for their sins. " Christ 
died for our sins according to the Scriptures." We die, 
but it is not any longer as a punishment to us. It is the 
fruit of sin, but it is not the curse of sin that makes 
the believer die. To other men death is a curse ; to the 
believer I may almost put it among his covenant bless- 
ings, for to sleep in Jesus Christ is one of the greatest 
mercies that the Lord can give to his believing people. 
The curse of death, then, being taken away, we may say 
that the posts are pulled up. Christ has taken away 
the after results of death, the soul's exposure to the 
second death. Unless Christ had redeemed us, death, 
indeed, would have been terrible; for it would have 
been the shore of the great lake of fire. When the 
wicked die they are judged to punishment. If they 
rise, it is but to receive in their bodies and in their souls 
the due reward of their sins. The sting of death is the 
second death — the afterwards. To die — to sleep — ay, 
that were nothing ; but to dream in that sleep ! ' ' Ay, 



Oar Champion, 177 

there's tlie rub ! " said the world's poet ; and there men 
will find the rub is ; " for in that sleep of death what 
dreams shall come ! " — nay, not what " dreams/' but 
what substantial pains, what everlasting sorrows, what 
dread miseries ! These are not for Christians. There 
is no hell for you, believer. Christ has taken away 
posts, and bar, and all. Death is not to you any longer 
the gate of torment, but the gate of paradise. More- 
over, Christ has not only taken away the curse, and the 
after results of death, but from many of us he has taken 
away the fear of death. He came on purpose to deliver 
" those, who through fear of death, were all their life- 
time subject to bondage." There are not a few here who 
could conscientiously say that they do not dread death ; 
nay, but rather look forward to it with joyful expectation. 
We have become so accustomed to think of our last 
hours that we die daily, and when the last hour shall 
arrive, we can only say, 6t Our marriage day has come. " 

" Welcome sweet hour of full discharge 
That sets my willing soul at large." 

We shall hail the summons to mount beyond this land 
of woes, and sighs, and tears to be present with our God. 
The fear of death having been taken away, we may truly 
say that Christ has taken away posts, and bar, and all. 
Besides, beloved, there is a sense in which it may be said 
that Christians never die at all. "He that liveth 
and believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall 
he live." "He that liveth and believeth in me shall 
never die." They do not die ; they do but " sleep 
in Jesus, and are blessed." But the main sense in 
which Christ has pulled up the posts of the gates of 
death is that he has brought in a glorious resurrection. 

12 



178 Types and Emblems. 

Grave, thou canst not hold thy prisoners; they must 
rise ! O death, thy troops of worms may seem to devas- 
tate that fair land of human flesh and blood ; but that 
body shall rise again with more blooming beauty than that 
with which it fell asleep. It shall upstart from its bed 
of dust, and silent clay, to dwell in realms of everlasting 
day. Conceive the picture if you can ! If you have 
imagination, let the scene now present itself before your 
eyes. Christ the Samson sleeping in the dominions of 
death; death boasting and glorifying itself that now 
it has conquered the Prince of Life; Christ waking, 
striding to that gate, dashing it aside, taking it upon 
his shoulders, carrying it away, and saying as he mounts 
to heaven, " O death, where is thy sting ? O grave, where 
is thy victory ? " 

Another host which Christ had to defeat was the army 
of sin. Christ had come among sinners, and sins beset 
him round. Your sins and my sins beleaguered the 
Saviour till he became their captive. In him was no sin, 
and yet sins compassed him about like bees. Sin was 
imputed to him; the sins of all his people stood in his 
way to keep him out of heaven as well as them. When 
Christ was on the cross, my brethren, he was looked upon 
by God as a sinner, though he never had been a sinner ; 
and when in the grave, he could not rise until he was 
justified. Christ must be justified as well as his people. 
He was justified not as we are, but by his own act. We 
are not justified by acts of our own as he was. All the 
sin of the elect was laid upon Christ ; he suffered its 
full penalty, and so was justified. The token of his 
justification lay in his resurrection, Christ was justified 
by rising from the dead, and in him all his people were 



Our Champion. 179 

justified too. I may say, therefore, that all our sins 
stood in the way of Christ's resurrection ; they were the 
great iron gate, and they were the bar of brass, that 
shut him out from heaven. Doubtless, we might have 
thought that Christ would be a prisoner for ever under 
the troops of sin, but, oh, see him, my brethren. See 
how the mighty Conqueror, as he bears our sins " in 
his own body on the tree," stands with unbroken bones 
beneath the enormous load, bearing 

" All that incarnate God could bear, 
With strength enough, but none to spare." 

See how he takes those sins upon his shoulders, and 
carries them right up from his tomb, and hurls them 
away into the deep abyss of forgetfulness, where, if they 
be sought for, they shall not be found any more for 
ever. 

As for the sins of God's people, they are not partly 
taken away, but they are as clean removed as ever the 
gates of Gaza were — posts, gates, bars, and all ; that is 
to say, every sin of God's people is forgiven. 

" There's pardon for transgressions past, 
It matters not how black their cast ; 
And, oh, my soul, with wonder view, 
For sins to come there's pardon too." 

Every sin that all the elect did commit, are com- 
mitting, or shall commit, was taken away by Christ, 
taken upon the shoulders of the atonement and 
carried away. There is no sin in God's book against 
his people ; he seeth no sin in Jacob, neither iniquity in 
Israel; they are justified in Christ for ever. Moreover, 
as the guilt of sin was taken away, the punishment of 
sin was consequently taken away too. For the Christian 



180 Types and Emblems. 

there is no stroke from God's angry hand ; nay, not so 
much as a single frown of punitive justice. The be- 
liever may be chastised by a Father's hand; but God, 
the Judge of all, has nothing to say to the Christian, 
except, " I have absolved thee : thou art acquitted." 
For the Christian there is no hell, no penal death, 
much less any second death. He is completely freed 
from all the punishment as well as the guilt of sin, and 
the power of sin is removed too. It may stand in our 
way to keep us in perpetual warfare ; but, oh, my breth- 
ren, sin is a conquered foe to us. There is no sin which a 
Christian cannot overcome if he will only rely upon his 
God to do it. They overcame through the blood of the 
Lamb, who wear the white robe in heaven, and you 
and I may do the same. There is no lust too mighty, 
no besetting sin too strongly entrenched. We can drive 
these Canaanites out. Though they have cities walled 
to heaven, we can pull their cities down, and overcome 
them through the power of Christ. Do believe it, 
Christian, that thy sin is virtually a dead thing. It may 
kick and struggle. There is force in it for that, but 
it is a dead thing. God has written condemnation 
across its brow. Christ has crucified it, " nailing it to 
his cross." Do you go now and bury it for ever, and 
the Lord help you to live to his praise. Oh, blessed be 
his name ! Sin, with the guilt, the power, the shame, 
the fear, the terror of it, all is gone. Christ has taken 
posts, and bar, and all up to the top of the hill. 

Then there was a third enemy, and he also has been 
destroyed — that was Satan. Our Saviour's sufferings 
were not only an atonement for sin, but they were a 
conflict with Satan, and a conquest over him. Satan is a 



Our Champion* 181 

defeated foe. The gates of hell cannot prevail against the 
church ; but, what is more, Christ has prevailed against 
the gates of hell. As for Satan the posts, and bar,, and 
all have been plucked up from his citadel in this sense — 
that Satan has now no reigning power over believers. 
He may bark at us like a dog, and he may go about like 
a roaring lion, bat to rend and to devour are not in his 
power. There is a chain about the devil's neck, and 
God lets him go as far as he likes, but no further. He 
could not tempt Job without first asking leave, and he 
cannot tempt you without first getting permission. 
There is a permit needed before the devil dares so much 
as look on a believer, and God gives him permission ; 
and so, being under divine authority and permission, he 
will not be allowed to tempt us above what we are 
able to bear. Moreover, the exceeding terror of Satan 
is also taken away. A man has met Apollyon foot to 
foot, and overcome him. That man in death triumphed 
over Satan. So may you and I. The prestige of the 
old enemy is gone. The dragon's head has been broken, 
and you and I need not fear to fight with a broken- 
headed adversary. When I read John Bunyan's de- 
scription of Christian's fight with Apollyon, I am 
struck with the beauty and truth of the description, but 
I cannot help thinking — " Oh ! if Christian had known 
how thoroughly Apollyon had been thrashed in days 
gone by, by his Master, he would have thrown that in 
his face, and made short work of him." Never en- 
counter Satan without recollecting that great victory 
that Christ achieved on the tree. Do not be afraid, 
Christian, of Satan's devices or threatenings. Be on 
your watch-tower against him. Strive against him, but 



182 Types and Emblems. 

fear him not. Resist him, being bold in the faith, for it 
is not in his power to keep the feeblest saint out of 
heaven, for all the gates which he has put up to impede 
our march have been taken away, posts, and bar, and all, 
and our God the Lord has gotten to himself the victory 
over the hosts of hell. 

III. We will now see how we can use this victory. 
Surely there is some comfort here — comfort for you, 
dear friend, over yonder. You have a desire tn be 
saved ; God has impressed you with a deep sense of sin ; 
the very strongest wish of your soul is that you might 
have peace with God. But you think there are so many 
difficulties in the way — Satan, your sins, and I know not 
what. Beloved, let me tell thee, in God's name, there 
is no difficulty whatever in the way except in thine own 
heart, for Christ has taken away the gates of Gaza — 
gates, posts, bar, and all. Mary Magdalene said to the 
other Mary, when they went to the sepulchre, " Who 
shall roll us away the stone ? " That is what you are 
saying ; and when they came to the place the stone was 
rolled away. That is your case, poor troubled con- 
science ; the stone is rolled away. What ! you cannot 
believe it ? There is God's testimony for it — ' ' Though 
your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow ; 
though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool/' 
You want an atonement for your sins, do you ? " It is 
finished/' You want some one to speak for you. (t He 
is able to save unto the uttermost, seeing he ever liveth 
to make intercession for us/' Canst thou believe in the 
mercy of God in Christ, and rest thy poor guilty soul 
upon the merit of his doing and the virtue of his dying ? 
If thou canst, God is reconciled to thee. There may 



Our Champion. 183 

have been great mountains between thee and God. 
They are all gone. There may have been the Red Sea 
of thy sins rolling between thee and thy Father. That 
Red Sea is dried up. I tell thee, soul, if thou believest 
in Christ Jesus, not only is there a way of access be- 
tween thy soul and God, but there is a clear way. You 
remember, when Christ died, the veil of the temple was 
rent in twain. There was not a little slit for sinners to 
creep through, but it was rent in twain from the top to 
the bottom, so that big sinners might come, just in the 
same way as when Samson pulled up gates, posts, bar, 
and all, there was a clear way out into the country for 
all who were locked up in the town. Prisoner, the 
prison doors are open. Captive, loose the bonds on thy 
neck ; be free ! I sound the trump of jubilee. Bond- 
slaves, Christ hath redeemed you. Ye who have sold — 

" Your heritage for naught, 
Shall have it back unbought, 
The gift of Jesus' love." 

The Lord hath anointed his Son Jesus "to preach 
liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison 
doors to them that are bound/' Trust thou him. Oh, 
may his mercy lead thee now to trust him, for there is 
really nothing to prevent thy salvation if thou restest in 
him. Between thy soul and God, I tell thee, there is 
no dividing wall. "He is oar peace." "He hath 
made us both one, and reconciled us to God by his 
blood. " May those few words be kept and treasured 
up by such as need them. Some of you want them. 
May the Spirit of God put them into your hearts, and 
lay them up there, that you may find comfort in Christ ! 

But is there not something more here ? Is there not 



184 Types and Emblems. 

here some ground of exhortation to Christians? Brethren, 
have not some of you been tolerating some sin — some 
besetting sin, which you think you cannot overcome ? 
You would be more holy, but this thought makes 
your arm nerveless against \our own sin — you are not 
able to overcome it. So you think that Christ has left 
the posts do you ? I tell you, no ; " he that is born of 
God sinneth not." He that is born of God is perfect, 
and he sinneth not with allowance ; he sinneth not 
with constancy ; and it is in his power, with the Holy 
Spirit's aid, to overcome his sin ; and it is his duty 
as well as his privilege to go to war against the 
stoutest of his corruptions till he shall tread them 
under foot. 

Now, will you believe it, brethren, that in the blood 
of Christ, and in the water that flowed with it from his 
side, there is a sovereign virtue to kill your sins ? There 
is nothing standing between you and the pardon of your 
sins but your unbelief, and if you will shake that off, 
you shall march through the gate triumphant. 

Once more, and I have done. Is not this an incentive 
for us who profess to be servants of Christ to go out 
and fight with the world, and overcome it for Christ ? 
Brethren, where Jesus leads us it needs not much 
courage to follow. " The earth is the Lord's, and the 
fulness thereof." Let us go and take it for him ! Na- 
tions that " sit in darkness shall see a great light/' Satan 
may have locked up the world with bigotry, with idolatry, 
and with superstition, as with posts and bars, but the 
kingdom is the Lord's ; and if we will but rouse our- 
selves to preach the Word we shall find that the Breaker 
has gone up before us, and broken and torn away the 



Our Champion, 185 

gates, and we have nothing to do but to enter with an 
easy victory. God help us to do so ! 

And now, as we come to the Lord's table, let us have 
this vision before us of our glorious Samson achieving 
his mighty victory; and, while we weep for sin, let us 
praise his superlative power and love that has done such 
marvels for us. The Lord give us to enjoy his presence 
at this table, and he shall have the praise ! Amen. 






fmfinn % 



\tWi 



" He was sore athirst, and called on the Lord, and said, Thou hast 
given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant : and now 
shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised ?" — 
Judges xv. 18 v 




OU will remember the occasion on which these 
words were spoken. Samson had been 
brought down from the top of the rock, bound 
with cords by his own brethren, and given 
up as a captive into the hands of the Philis- 
tines. But, no sooner did he reach the 
Philistines than the supernatural force of 
God's Spirit came upon him, and he snapped the cords 
as though they had been but tow; and seeing the jaw- 
bone of a newly-slaughtered ass lying near to hand, he 
grasped that strange weapon, and fell with all his might 
upon the hosts of the Philistines ; and though, no doubt, 
they took to speedy flight, yet the one man, smiting 
them hip and thigh, left no less than a thousand persons 
dead upon the ground ; and as he piled up the heaps of 
the slain, he looked with grim satisfaction upon the 
slaughter which he had wrought, crying — " Heaps upon 
heaps ; heaps upon heaps ; with the jaw-bone of an ass 



The Fainting Hero. 187 

have I slain a thousand men !" There was, perhaps, a 
little of vaunting and vain-glorying in his conduct; but, 
in a moment, a sudden faintness gathered over him. He 
had been exerting himself most marvellously, straining 
every nerve and muscle, and now, being sore athirst, he 
looked round him for a stream of water, but there was 
none ; and he felt as if for lack of water he must die, 
and then the Philistines would rejoice over him. With 
that simple-minded faith which was so characteristic of 
Samson, who was nothing but a big child, he turned his 
eye to his heavenly Father, and cried — " O Jehovah, 
thou hast given me this great deliverance, and now shall 
I die for thirst ? After all that thou hast done for me, 
shall the uncircumcised rejoice over me because I die 
for want of a drink of water ? " Such confidence had he 
that God would interpose on his behalf. 

Now, my drift is the comforting of God's saints, 
especially in coming to the table of their Lord. I 
have thought there may be many of you who are 
feeling in an unhappy and a distressed frame of mind, 
and that by referring you to what God has already done 
for you I might lead you to set a lighter estimate upon 
your present trouble, and enable you to argue that he 
who has wrought great deliverances for you in the past 
will not suffer you to lack in the future. 

I. YOU HAVE ALREADY, MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS, 
EXPERIENCED GREAT DELIVERANCES. 

Happy is it for you that you have not had the slay- 
ing of a thousand men, but there are " heaps upon 
heaps " of another sort upon which you may look with 
quite as much satisfaction as Samson, and perhaps with 
less mingled emotions than his, when he gazed on 



188 Types and Emblems, 

the slaughtered Philistines. See there, beloved, the 
great heaps of your sins, all of them giants, and any one 
of them sufficient to drag you down to the lowest hell. 
But, they are all slain ; there is not a single sin that 
speaks a word against you. " "Who shall lay anything 
to the charge of God's elect?'-' Another arm than 
yours has done it, but the victory is quite as complete. 
Christ returns with dyed garments from Bozrah ; he has 
trodden the wine-press of God's wrath, and I may almost 
say that the blood- which stains his apparel is the blood 
of your sins, which he has utterly destroyed for ever. 
Look at their number. Take so many years, and make 
each year a heap. Divide them, if you will, into groups 
and classes ; put them under the heads of the ten com- 
mands, and there they lie, in ten great heaps, but every 
one of them destroyed. 

Think, too, of the heaps of your doubts and fears. 
Do you not remember when you thought God would 
never have mercy upon you ? Let me remind you of 
the low dungeon where there was no water, when the 
iron entered into your soul. Some of us can never for- 
get the time when we were under conviction. Moses 
tied us up to the halberts, and took the ten-thonged 
whip of the law, and laid it upon our backs most terribly, 
and then seemed to wash us with brine as conscience 
reminded us of all the aggravations which had attended 
our sins. But, though we feared we should have been 
in hell, though we thought that surely the pit would 
shut its mouth upon us; yet, here we are living 
to praise God, as we do this day, and all our fears 
are gone. We rejoice in Christ Jesus. God " hath not 
dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us 



The Fainting Hero. 189 

after our iniquities." " Heaps upon heaps " of fears 
have we had ; bigger heaps than our sins, but there they 
lie — troops of doubters. There are their bones and 
their skulls, as Bunyan pictured them outside the town 
of Mansoul ; but they are all dead, God having wrought 
for us a deliverance from them. 

Another set of foes that God has slain includes our 
temptations. Some of us have been tempted from every 
quarter of the world, from every corner of the compass. 
Sometimes it has been pride ; at another time despair. 
Sometimes it has been too much of the world, and at 
others it has been too little. Sometimes we have been 
too strong and puffed up ; at other times we have been 
too weak and cast down. There has sometimes been a 
lack of faith, and at others our fervency may have been 
inflamed by the flesh. The best of men are shot at 
with the devil's worst darts. You have been tempted by 
Satan ; you have been tempted by the world ; your 
nearest and dearest friends have, perhaps, been your 
worst tempters, for "a man's foes shall be they of his 
own household/' There has not been a bush behind 
which an enemy has not lurked, no inch of the road to 
Canaan which has not been overgrown with thorns. 

" Trials of every shape and name 
Await the followers of the Lamb, 
Who leave the world's deceitful shore, 
And leave it to return no more." 

But, look back upon them. Your temptations, where 
are they ? Your soul has escaped like a bird out of the 
snare of the fowler, and this night you can say, " They 
compassed me about like bees ; yea, like bees they com- 
passed me about; but in the name of God have I 



190 Types and Emblems. 

destroyed them ; I have passed safely where others have 
been ruined ; I have walked along the walls of salva- 
tion when others have been lying at the foot thereof, 
dashed in pieces by their presumption and their self- 
confidence ; f heaps upon heaps ' of my temptations 
have been slain, and thou, O God, hast wrought for me 
a great deliverance ! " 

So, let me say, in the next place, has it been with most 
of your sorrows. You, sons and daughters of tribulation, 
have sometimes sat down and said, " All these things 
are against me ! " You have lost children, friends have 
died, business has departed, wealth has melted, almost 
every comfort has had a blight upon it. Like Job's 
messengers, evil tidings have followed one another, and 
you have been brought very low. But, beloved in Christ 
Jesus, you have been delivered. " Many are the afflic- 
tions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out 
of them all." It has been so in your case. Whatever 
form the affliction has taken, mercy has taken a form to 
meet it. When the arrow flew, God was your shield ; 
when the darkness gathered, he was your sun; when 
you had to fight, he was your sword ; when you needed 
to be supported, he was your rod and your staff. 

M Thus far we've proved that promise good 
Which Jesus ratified with blood ; 
Still is he gracious, wise, and just, 
And still in him let Israel trust." 

I will let no man in this congregation take a place be- 
fore me in obligation to the Most High. Brethren, we 
are all debtors, and I count myself most of all a debtor. 
I boast that I have nothing to boast of. I would desire 
to lie the lowest, and to take the meanest place, for I 



The Fainting Hero. 191 

owe most of all to the grace of God. When I look back 
to my parentage, when I see whence the Lord has 
brought me, and what he has done for me and by me, I 
can only say, " Thou hast given to thy servant this great 
deliverance ! " And, I suppose, if all the people of God 
could meet here one by one, they would each claim that 
there is something peculiar in their every case ; each 
one would say, " There is something in the deliverance 
God has wrought for me that demands of me a special 
song f therefore, let the whole of us together, who have 
" known and tasted that the Lord is gracious," look 
back upon the past with thankfulness and praise to the 
Lord. 

II. Yet fresh troubles will assail you, and excite 
your alarm. Thus Sam son was thirsty. This was a 
new kind of want to him. He was so thirsty that he was 
near to die. The difficulty was totally different from 
any that Samson had met before. Shake those Sam- 
souian locks in which thy strength lieth, but they can- 
not distil a single drop of dew to moisten thy mouth ! 
The strong man is as much amenable to thirst as the 
weak, and that arm which could slay a thousand Philis- 
tines, cannot open a fountain in the earth, draw down a 
shower from the skies, or yield to thirst a single draught 
of water. He is in a new plight. Of course it seems 
to you to be a far simpler matter than he had known 
before, and so it was. Merely to get thirst assuaged is 
not anything like so great a thing as to be delivered from 
a thousand Philistines. But I dare say when the thirst 
was upon him, and oppressed him, Samson felt that 
little present difficulty more weighty and severe than the 
great past difficulty out of which he had so specially 



192 Types and Emblems. 

been delivered. Now I think, beloved, there may be 
some of you who have been forgiven, saved, delivered, 
and yet you do not feel happy to-night. " God has done 
great things for you, whereof you are glad/' yet you 
cannot rejoice ; the song of your thanksgiving is hushed. 
A little inconvenience in getting into your pews ; a hasty 
word spoken by somebody outside the gate ; the thought 
of a child at home, something which is very little and 
insignificant compared with all that God has wrought for 
you, will sometimes take away the present joy and com- 
fort of the great, the unspeakably great boons which 
you have received. You may know your standing 
in Christ, and yet some little trouble keeps buzzing 
about your ears, and may be distracting you even now. 
Let me say two or three words to you. It is very usual 
for God's people, when they have had some great deli- 
verance, to have some little trouble that is too much for 
them. Samson slays a thousand Philistines, and piles 
them up in heaps, and then he must needs die for want 
of a little water ! Look at Jacob ; he wrestles with God 
at Peniel, and overcomes omnipotence itself, and yet he 
goes " halting on his thigh ! " Strange, is it not, that 
there must be a touching of the sinew whenever you and 
I win the day ? It seems as if God must teach us our 
littleness, our nothingness, in order to keep us within 
bounds. Samson seems to have crowed right loudly 
when he said, a Have I slain a thousand men ? " Ah ! 
Samson, it is time thy throat became hoarse when thou 
canst boast so loudly. The mighty man has to go down 
on his knees and cry, et O God, this thirst will overcome 
thy hero ; send me, I pray thee, a draught of water." 
God has ways of touching his people, so that their energy 



The Fainting Hero. 193 

soon vanishes. " I said my mountain standeth firm, I 
shall not be moved ; thou didst hide thy face, and I was 
troubled." Now, dear child of Grod, if this is your case, 
I say it is not an unusual one. There is a reaction 
which generally follows any strong excitement. No 
doubt the excitement of having slain the Philistines 
would naturally be followed by depression of spirits in 
Samson. When David had mounted the throne of 
Israel there came the reaction, and he said, " I am this 
day weak, though anointed king." You must expect 
to feel weakest just when you are enjoying your greatest 
triumph. 

I have already said that the use of all this is to make 
a man feel his weakness. I hope it makes you feel 
yours. What fools we are, brethren, and yet if some 
one else were to call us fools we should not like it, 
though I do not doubt but that we are very well named, 
whoever may give us the title, for the whole of heaven 
cannot make us rejoice if we have one pain in our head ; 
and all the harps of angels, and our knowledge of our in- 
terest in "the glory that is to be revealed/' cannot 
make us happy if some little thing happens to go con- 
trary to our minds. Somebody trod on the corns of 
your pride as you were coming in here, and if an angel 
had preached to you you would not have enjoyed it, 
because of your mind being discomposed. Oh ! simple- 
tons that we are ! The table is daintily spread ; the 
manna of heaven lies close to our hand, but, because 
there is a little rent in the garment, or a small thorn 
in the finger, we sit down and cry as though the worst 
of ills had happened to us ! Heaven is thine own, and 
yet thou criest because thy little room is scantily 

13 



194 Types and Emblems. 

furnished ! God is thy Father, and Christ thy brother, 
and yet thou weepest because a babe has been taken from 
thee to the skies ! Thy sins are all forgiven, and yet 
thou mournest because thy clothes are mean. Thou 
art a child of God, an heir of heaven, and yet thou 
sorrowest as though thou wouldst break thy heart be- 
cause a fool hath called thee ill names ! Strange is it; 
foolish ; but such is man — strangely foolish, and only 
wise as God shall make him so. 

III. If, my brethren, you are now feeling any 
present trouble pressing so sorely that it takes away 
from you all power to rejoice in your deliverance, I want 
you to remember that you are still secure. God will 
as certainly bring you out of this present little trouble 
as he has brought you out of all the great troubles in 
the past. 

He will do this for two reasons, both of which are 
found in the text. The first is, because if he does not do 
it your enemy will rejoice over you. "What/' saith 
Samson, " shall I fall by the hand of the uncircum- 
cised? Faint, weary, thirsty, shall I become their 
victim — I who was once their terror, and made the dam- 
sels of Gath and of Askelon to weep instead of to dance ? 
Shall 7" be slain ?" And what say you? But hush 
your gloomy forebodings. If you perish, the honour of 
Christ will be tarnished, and the laughter of hell will be 
excited. Bought with Jesu's blood, and yet in hell — 
what merriment there would be in the pit ! Justified 
by the righteousness of Christ, and yet lost — what a 
theme of scorn for fiends ! Sanctified by the Spirit of 
God, and yet damned — oh ! what yells of triumph would 
go up from the abode of Apollyon and his angels I 



The Fainting Hero 195 

What ! a child of God forsaken of his Father ! A jewel 
plucked from Jesu's crown ! A member rent from Jesu's 
body ! Never, never, never ! God will never permit 
the power of darkness to triumph over the power of 
light. His great name he ever hath in respect, and the 
ruin of the meanest believer would be the cause of 
dishonour and disrespect to God, therefore you are 
safe. Oh ! it is such a blessed thing when you can run 
behind your God for shelter. Some youngster out in 
the street has been offending his fellow, and is likely to 
receive a blow ; but here comes his father, and he runs 
behind his father's skirt and feels that there is no fear 
for him now. So let us shelter ourselves behind our 
God. Better than brazen wall, or castle, or high tower, 
shall Jehovah be to us, and we may then look at all our 
enemies, and say, as Isaiah did to Sennacherib, " The 
virgin daughter of Zion hath despised thee, and shaken 
her head at thee ! " The uncircumcised shall not rejoice ; 
the daughters of Philistia shall not triumph. We are 
our God's, and he will keep his own until the day when 
he shall display them as his jewels. 

That is one reason for confidence, but another reason 
is to be found in the fact that God has already delivered 
you. I asked you just now to walk over the battle-field 
of your life, and observe the heaps upon heaps of slaugh- 
tered sins, and fears, and cares, and troubles. Do you 
think he would have done all that he has done for you 
if he had intended to leave you ? The God who has so 
graciously delivered you hitherto has not changed ; he 
is still the same as he ever was. I have no doubt about 
the sun rising to-morrow morning ; he always has done 
so since I have been able to see him. Why should I 



196 Types and Emblems. 

doubt my God, for he is more certain than the sun ? 
The Nile ceases not to make Egypt laugh with plenty ; 
men trust it, and why should not I trust my God, who 
is a river full of water, overflowing with lovingkindness. 
If we never doubt God till we have cause to do so, dis- 
trust will be banished from our hearts for ever. Of 
men we speak as we find ; let us do the same with God. 
Was he ever a Avilderness to you ? When did he forsake 
you ? When did your cries return without an answer ? 
What, has he ever said, " I have blotted you out of my 
book, and I will remember you no more? ; ' You have 
doubted him, wickedly and wantonly, but never have 
you had any cause for suspicion or mistrust. Now, since 
he is " the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever/' 
the God who delivered you out of the jaw of the lion 
and out of the paw of the bear, will yet deliver you out 
of your present difficulty. 

Bethink you, dear friend, if he does not do so he will 
lose all that he has done. When I see a potter making 
a vessel, if he is using some delicate clay upon which 
he has spent much preliminary labour to bring it to its 
proper fineness ; and if I see him again, and again, and 
again moulding the vessel — if I see, moreover, that the 
pattern is coming out — if I know that he has put it in 
the oven, and that the colours are beginning to display 
themselves — I bethink me were it common delf ware I 
could understand his breaking up what he had done, 
because it would be but worth little ; but since it is a 
piece of rich and rare porcelain upon which months of 
labour had been spared, I could not understand his say- 
ing, " I will not go on with it ; " because he would lose 
so much that he has already spent. Look at some of 



The Fainting Hero. 197 

those rich vessels by Bernard de Palissy, which are 
worth their weight in gold, and you can hardly imagine 
Bernard stopping when he had almost finished, and 
saying, " I have been six months over this, but I shall 
never take the pains to complete it." 

Now, God has spent the blood of his own dear Son 
to save you ; he has spent the power of the Holy Spirit 
to make you what he wo.uld have you be, and he will 
never stay his mighty hand till his work is done. " Hath 
he said, and- shall he not do it? Hath he begun, and 
shall he not complete ? yi God will have no unfinished 
works. When Jehovah's banner is furled, and his sword 
is sheathed, then shall he cry — 

"Tisdone, 
For the kingdoms of this world 
Are the kingdoms of my Son." 

In that day every vessel that he prepared for glory shall 
stand in that glory, having been made perfectly meet for 
it. Do not, then, despair, because of your present 
trouble. 

Doubtless some of you are saying that I am speaking 
as one who does not know the occasion or the bitterness 
of your peculiar distress. My dear friends, I do not 
care to know it. Enough for me to know that if God 
has wrought for his servants so great a deliverance as 
he has done, the present difficulty is only like Samson's 
thirst, and I am sure he will not let you die of faint- 
ness, nor suffer the daughter of the uncircumcised to 
triumph over you. " Ah ! " says one, " it is all very 
well talking, but mine is a very, very, very peculiar 
case." Well, then, dear brother, there is a special 
reason why God should deliver you, because, if Satan 



198 Types and Emblems. 

could overcome in that peculiar case, he would then 
say that he could have overcome all the saints if he 
could have got them into the same corner, and he would 
loudly boast, just as though the whole had perished. But 
I do not think that your case is so very peculiar ; it is 
only the way in which you look at it. The road of 
sorrow has been well trodden ; it is the regular sheep- 
track to heaven, and all the flock of God have had to 
pass along it. So ; I pray you, cheer up your heart with 
Samson's words, and rest assured that God will deliver 
you soon. 

And now, while I have been been talking thus, the 
thought has sprung up in my breast that many people 
listen to me who are not Christians. My friends, 
my great wonder is, what some of you do without 
God. I can hardly understand how the rich man 
can have any comfort without God, for he must suffer 
from bereavement and bodily pain as well as the poor. 
Those silly butterflies of fashion, who spend all their 
time in flitting about from flower to flower, are so heart- 
less and thoughtless that I cannot comprehend how 
they can do without God. With empty heads and silly 
hearts men and women can make gods of anything; 
their own pretty persons can be quite sufficient object for 
their idiotic worship. But a man that stands right straight 
up, a sensible thinking man — a working man if you will 
— I do not mind whether he works with the dry heat of 
his brain or with the damp sweat of his face — I cannot 
understand how a man like this, with organs of thought 
and a reasoning soul, can go on without God. There 
must be pinches with some of you when you want a 
God. I had been in a madhouse a dozen times if it had 



The Fainting Hero. 199 

not been for my God. My feet had altogether gone 
into the chambers of despair, and I had ended this life, 
if it had not been for the faithful promises of the God 
that keeps and preserves his people. My life has not 
been a miserable, but a happy one ; and yet I tell you 
that there have been times in it when I could not have 
done without my God. I do not understand what some 
of you, who are always at the pinch, do without God. 
There are many such here. You are poor ; you are not 
often without sickness; you were born inheritors of 
maladies that make your life wretched ; your children 
are sickly about you ; it is as much as you can do by 
Saturday night to make ends meet ; you are frequently 
in debt ; you are constantly in trouble. Oh ! I cannot 
tell what you do without God. Why, you have nothing 
here, and no hope of anything hereafter ! Poor souls, 
I could weep for you to think that you are without God ! 
I went some time ago into the house of our brother 
Stephenson; a good soldier of the cross was he: he 
fell asleep in Jesus ; and when I saw his weep- 
ing sons and daughters, I felt, " I have easy work 
here." I said to them, " Why, what a mercy it is that 
your father is gone, for he has lingered long in pain, 
and you know how ready he was to enter into rest." 
That was very different from what sometimes happens. 
Only a little while ago a sister came to me weeping as 
if she would break her heart. " Ah, sir/' said she, 
" my brother is dead, and he died without hope/' It 
was a sad case, but then she had a God to repair to even 
under that sharp trial. But, when death comes into 
your house, you have no God ! I knelt down and 
prayed with those poor weeping girls this morning, and, 



200 Types and Emblems. 

though their father was but just dead, I marked that 
the voice of prayer had evidently a soothing charm about 
it, and though they wept, yet it seemed to soothe and 
pacify them. But some of you do not pray, and, there- 
fore, this comfort cannot be yours. 

And you will come to die soon. When the death- 
thirst is in your throat, what do you think you will do 
without God ? To die in God's presence, is simply to 
let life blossom into something better than life ; but to 
die without God must be horrible ! You will not want 
your boon companions then. Strong drink will not pacify 
you then. Music will have no charms for you then. 
The love of a tender and gentle wife can yield you 
but sorry comfort then. You may lay your money 
bags at your side, but they will not calm your palpita- 
ting heart then. You will hear the boomings of the 
waves of the great sea of eternity ; you will feel your 
feet slipping into the dreadful quicksand ; you will clutch 
about you for help, but there will be none ! Instead 
thereof, invisible hands shall begin to pull you down. 
And down through the dark sea you must descend to 
those darker depths where dread despair will be your 
everlasting heritage ! 

But there is hope yet. Whosoever believeth in the 
Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved. Turn thine eye to 
Christ, poor sinner, as he hangs there suffering in man's 
stead, taking human guilt on himself, and being punished 
for it as though it were his own. Trust him, sinner, 
and resting in Jesus, thou shalt be saved ! 






ljjj»tt«f* iji}$t$< — ^ fymfflt* 




*' And Mesas brought thsir cause before the Lord." — Num. xxvii. 5. 

^ Y the help of God the Holy Spirit, I want to 
use this incident, which forms a kind of 
episode in the rehearsal of the history of 
Israel's forty years' wanderings in the wil- 
derness, for a twofold purpose. First, let me 
indicate its general teaching, and, secondly, 
let me take it as a ground of appeal to cer- 
tain special classes. 

In respect to its general teaching, 
I would ask your attention, and exhibit for your imita- 
tion, the faith which these five young women, the 
daughters of Zelophehad, possessed with regard to the 
promised inheritance. You must remember that the 
children of Israel were still in the wilderness. They had 
not seen the promised land, but God had made a cove- 
nant with them that they should possess it. He had 
declared that he would bring them into a land which 
flowed with milk and honey, and there plant them ; and 
that that land should belong to them and to their de- 
scendants by a covenant of salt for ever. Now, these 
women believed in this heritage. They were not like 



202 Types and Emblems. 

Esau, who thought so little of the inheritance that he 
sold it to his brother Jacob for a mess of pottage ; but 
they believed it be really worth having ; they regarded 
it, though they had never beheld it, as being something 
exceedingly substantial, and, so looking upon it, they 
were afraid lest they should be left out when the land 
was divided ; and, though they had never seen it, yet, 
being persuaded that it was somewhere, and that the 
children of Israel would have it in due time, their 
anxiety was lest they, having no brothers, should be for- 
gotten in the distribution, and so should lose their 
rights. They were anxious about an inheritance which 
they had never seen with their eyes. Now, herein I 
hold them up to the imitation of this present assembly. 
There is an inheritance far better than the land of 
Canaan. Oh, that we all believed in it, and longed for 
it ! It is an inheritance, however, which eye hath not 
seen, and the sounds whereof ear hath not heard. It is 
a city whose streets are gold, but none of us have ever 
trodden them. Never hath traveller to that country 
come back to tell us of its glories. There the music 
never ceases ; no discord ever mingles in it : it is sub- 
lime ; but no member of the heavenly choir has ever 
come to write out for us the celestial score, or to 



Teach us some melodious sonnet 
Sung by flaming tongues above." 



I Of 



It is not a matter of sight ; it must be to each one 
us a matter of faith. By faith we know that there is 
another and a better land. By faith we understand that 
our disembodied souls shall mount to be with Christ, 
and that, after a while, our bodies also shall rise to join 



Women's Rights. — A Parable. 203 

our spirits, that body and soul may together be glorified 
for ever in the presence of our gracious Redeemer. We 
have never seen this land however ; but there be some 
of us who as firmly believe in it as if we had seen it, 
and are as certain of it and as persuaded, as though 
these ears of our's had listened to its songs of joy, and 
these feet of our's had trodden its streets of gold. 

There was this feature, too, about the faith of these 
five women — they knew that the inheritance ivas only to 
be won by encountering great difficulties. The spies who 
came back from the land had said that the men who 
dwelt in it were giants. They said, " We were in their 
sight as grasshoppers ; yea, we were in our own sight as 
grasshoppers when we looked upon them/' There were 
many in the camp of Israel, I have no doubt, who 
said, " Well, I would sell my share cheaply enough ; 
for though the land be there, we never can win it; 
they have cities walled up to heaven, and they have 
chariots of iron ; we can never win the place." But 
these women believed that though they could not fight, 
God could ; and though they had never put their 
fingers to a more terrible instrument than a needle, 
yet did they believe that the same right arm which 
got to itself the victory when they went with Miriam, 
dancing to the timbrel's jubilant sound, would get the 
victory again, and bring his people in, and drive out 
the Canaanites, even though they had walled cities 
and chariots of iron. So these women had strong 
faith. I would to God that you had the same, all of you, 
dear friends ; but I know that some of you who do be- 
lieve that there is a land which floweth with milk and 
honey are half afraid that you shall never reach it. They 



204 Types and Emblems. 

are vexed with many doubts because of their own weak- 
ness, which, indeed, should not make them doubt, but 
should make them despair utterly if the getting of the 
goodly land depended upon their own fighting for it and 
winning it. But, inasmuch as " the gift of God is eternal 
life," and God himself will give it to us, and inas- 
much as Jesus has gone up on high to prepare a place 
for us, and has promised that he will come again and 
receive us unto himself, that where he is there we may 
be also, I would to God that our doubts and fears were 
banished, and that we said within ourselves, " We are 
able to go up and attack the land, for the Lord, even the 
Lord of hosts, is with us ; Jehovah-nissi is our banner ; 
the Lord our righteousness is our helper, and we shall 
surely enter into the place of the beloved, and shall join 
the general assembly and church of the first-born whose 
names are written in heaven." 

I commend the faith of these women to you because, 
believing in the land, and believing that it would be 
won, they were not to be put about by the ill report oj 
some who said that it was not a good land. There were 
ten out of the twelve who spied out the land, who said, 
"It is aland that eateth up the inhabitants thereof/' 
They brought back an evil report. But, whoever may 
have been perverted by these falsehoods, these five 
women were not. Others said, " Why, the land is full of 
pestilence and full of hornets, and those who live in it 
now are dying/' forgetting that God was making them 
to die in order to bring in the children of Israel in their 
stead ; and so they said, " who cares to have a portion 
there? Give us the leeks and the garlic, and the onions 
of Egypt, and let us sit again by the flesh-pots that we 



Women's Rights. — A Parable. 205 

had at Eameses ; but as for going on to this Canaan, we 
will never do it/' But these five women, who knew that 
if there were troubles in the household they would be 
sure to have their share of them, that if the bread ran 
short they would be the most likely to feel the straitness 
of it, and that if it were a land of sickness they would 
have to be the nurses, yet coveted to have their share in 
it, for they did not believe the ill report. They said ; 
" No ; God hath said it is a good land ; a laud of hills 
and valleys, a land of brooks and rivers, a land of oil- 
olives, a land out of whose bowels they might dig iron, 
and brass, and gold, and silver ; and we will not believe 
what these spies say ; it is a good land, and we will go 
in and ask for our share in it." So I commend their 
faith in this respect. I know some of you are occa- 
sionally met by sneering sceptics, and they say, " There 
is no such land ; we have never seen it ; are you such 
fools as to believe it ? are you going on a pilgrimage over 
hedge and ditch, helter-skelter, after a country that you 
know nothing of? Are you going to be led by the nose ? 
Trust that old-fashioned book ; and take his word, and 
nothing but his word, and believe it ? " Oh, I hope 
there are many of us — would that all of us were in that 
vein of thought — who can say, " It is even so." Stand 
back Mr. Atheist, and stop us not, for we are well per- 
suaded that ours is no wild-goose chase. Stand back 
Sir Ironical Sceptic ; laugh if thou wilt. Thou, wilt 
laugh on the other side of thy face one of these days, 
and we shall have the laugh of thee in those times. At 
any rate, if there be no heaven we shall be as well off as 
thou wilt be ; but, if there be a hell, where, O where, 
wilt thou be, and what will thy portion be ? So we 



206 Types and Emblems. 

even go on onr own way confident and sure, nothing 
doubting; believing, as surely as we believe our own 
existence, that 

" Jesus, the Judge, will come 
To take bis people up 
To their eternal home ;" 

and believing that one hour with him will be worth all 
the trials of the road ; worth enduring ten thousand 
deaths, if we could endure them, in order to win it ; and 
that, moreover, by God's grace we shall win it, 

" We shall "behold his face, 
We shall his name adore, 
And sing the wonders of his grace 
Henceforth for evermore." 

These daughters of Zelophehad, then^ I hold up to 
your commendation and imitation on account of their 
faith. 

But there was another point. Being thus sure of 
the land, and feeling certain about that, we must next 
commend them for their anxiety to possess a portion in 
it. Why did they think so much about it ? I heard 
some one say the other day, speaking of certain young 
people, " I do not like to see young women religious ; 
they ought to be full of fun and mirth, and not have 
their minds filled with such profound thoughts. " Now, 
I will be bound to say that this kind of philosophy was 
accredited in the camp of Israel, and that there were a 
great many young women there who said, " Oh, there is 
time enough to think about the good land when we get 
there ; let us be polishing up the mirrors ; let us be 
seeing to our dresses ; let us understand how to put our 
fingers upon the timbrel when the time comes for it ; 



Women's Rights. — A Parable. 207 

but as for prosing about a portion among those Hivites 
and Hittites, what is the good of it ? We will not bother 
ourselves about it." But such was the strength of the 
faith of these five women that it led them to feel a deep 
anxiety for a share in the inheritance. They were not 
such simpletons as to live only for the present. They 
had out- grown their babyhood ; they were not satisfied 
to live merely for the day. They knew that they would 
soon cross the Jordan, and that the tribes would be in 
the land, and so they began, as it were, like good house- 
wives, to think about their portion where it would be, and 
to reflect that were they left out when the muster-roll 
was read, and should no portion be appointed for Tirzah, 
and no portion for Milcah, and no place for any of the 
five sisters, they would be like beggars and outcasts in 
the midst of the land. The thought of all others having 
their plot of ground, and their family having none, made 
them anxious about it. Oh, dear friends, how anxious 
you and I ought to be to make our calling and election 
sure, and how solemnly should that verse of Wesley 
come home to our hearts, 

" But can I bear the piercing thought, 
What if my name should be left out 
When thou for them shalt call ! " 

Suppose I should have no portion in the skies ! O ye 
foundations of jasper, ye gates of pearl, ye walls of 
chrysolite and all manner of precious stones, must I 
never own you? O troops of angels, and armies of 
the blood-bought, must / never wave the palm or wear 
the crown in your midst ? Must the word that salutes 
me be that awful sentence, "Depart, ye cursed, into 
everlasting fire ? " Is there no place for me, no 



208 Types and Emblems. 



room for me, in the inheritance of the saints? I 
beseech you, never he satisfied till yon can answer this 
question in the affirmative., and say, "Yes, I have a 
place in Jesu's heart ; I have been washed in Jesu's 
blood ; and therefore I shall be with Jesus where lie is 
in his glory when the fitting time cometh." Oh, I 
would have you who are not sure about this, be as 
anxious as these women were. Let it press upon your 
hearts; let it even take the colour from your cheek, 
sooner than that you should have a gaiety and a mirth 
empty and frivolous, which will entice you down to 
the pit. Oh, do make sure work for eternity ! What- 
ever else you trifle with, do seek to have an anchor that 
will bold you fast in the last great storm. Do seek to be 
affianced unto Christ, and grounded and bottomed 
upon his foundation — the Rock of Ages, where we must 
build for eternity. These women were taken up with 
prudent anxious thoughts about their own part in the 
land. 

And let me say that they were right in desiring to 
have a portion there, when they recollected that the 
land had been covenanted to their fathers. They might 
well wish to have a part in a thing good enough to be a 
covenant-blessing. The land had been promised over 
and over again by divine authority ; they might well 
wish to have a share in that which God's own lips had 
promised. It was a land to bring them into which God 
had smitten the first-born of Egypt, and saved his 
people by the sprinkling of blood; they might well 
desire a land which cost so great a price to bring them to 
it. Besides, it was a goodly land; it was the most 
princely of all lands ; peerless amongst all the territories 



do 



Women's Eights. — A Parable. 209 

of earth. Its products were most rich. The grapes of 
Eshcol — what could equal them ? Its pomegranates, its 
oil-olives, its rivers that flowed with milk and honey — 
there was nothing like it in all the world besides ! They 
might well say, " Let us have a portion there ! " And, 
my dear hearers, the heaven of which we have to tell 
you is a land so good that it was spoken of in the cove- 
nant before the world was. It has been promised to the 
people of God ten thousand times. Jesus Christ has 
shed his precious blood that' he might open the gates of 
it, and bring us in. And it is a land — such a land — 
that, if you had but seen it, if you could but know what 
it is, you would pine away in stopping here ; for its very 
dust is gold, its meanest joys are richer than the tran- 
sports of earth, and the poorest in the kingdom of 
heaven is greater then he who is the mightiest prince in 
the kingdoms of this world. O that your mouths were 
set a-longing after the feasts of paradise. O that ye 
pined to be where Jesus is ; and then, surely, you would 
be anxious to know whether you had a portion there. 

I hold these women up as an example, because they 
believed in the unseen inheritance, and they were 
anxious to get their portion in it : — 

But, I must commend them yet again for the way 
in which they set about the business. I do not find that 
they went complaining from tent to tent that they were 
afraid that they had no portion. Many doubters do 
that ; they tell their donbts and fears to others, and they 
get no further. But these five women went straight away 
to Moses. He was at their head ; he was their mediator ; 
and then it is said that " Moses brought their cause 
before tf»« Lord." You see, these women did not try to 

14 



210 Types and Emblems. 

get what they wanted by force. They did not say, " Oh, 
we will take care and get our share when we get there.^ 
They did not suppose that they had any merit which 
they might plead, and so get it ; but they went straight 
away to Moses, and Moses took their cause, and laid 
it before the Lord. Dost thou want a portion in heaven, 
sinner? Go straight away to Jesus, and Jesus will 
take thy cause, and lay it before the Lord. It is a very 
sorry one as it stands by itself, but he has such a sweet 
w r ay of so mixing himself up with thee and thyself with 
him, that his cause and thy cause will be one cause, and 
the Father will give him good success, and thee good 
success too. O that some one here could breathe the 
prayer, if he has never prayed before, " Saviour, see 
that I have a portion in the skies. Precious Saviour, 
take my poor heart, and wash it in thy precious blood, 
and change it by thy Holy Spirit, and make me ready 
to dwell where perfect saints are. O do thou under- 
take my cause for me, thou blessed Advocate, and plead 
it before thy Father's face." That is the way to have 
the business done. Put it out of your own hands into 
the hands of the Prophet like unto Moses, and you will 
surely speed. 

Now, observe these women's success. The Lord ac- 
cepted their plea, for he said unto Moses, " The daughters 
of Zelophehad speak right." Yes, and when thou criest 
to him, and when his dear Son takes thy prayer to him, 
God will say, " That sinner speaks right." Beat on thy 
breast, and say, " God be merciful to me a sinner ; " 
and he will say, " That soul speaks right." Young 
women, imitate these five sisters now. May God the 
Holy Spirit bring you to imitate them by humbly 



Women's Rights. — A Parable. 211 

offering your plea through the Mediator, Jesus Christ, 
and God will say, " Ah ! she speaks right ; I have heard 
her; I have accepted her." And then God said that 
these sisters should have their portion just the same as 
the men had ; that they should have their share of 
land just as if they had inherited it as sons. And 
so will God say to every seeking sinner. Whatever 
may be the disability under which you labour, what- 
ever bar there may have seemed to be to your claim, 
you shall inherit it amongst the children, you shall take 
your part and your lot amongst the chosen of God. 
Christ has set your cause before his Father, and it shall 
be unto you, poor sinner, according to your desire, and 
you shall have a part amongst the Lord's people. 

I wish I had power -to press this matter more imme- 
diately home upon you ! Many of us who are now 
present are saved. It is a great satisfaction to remem- 
ber how large a proportion of my congregation have come 
to Christ ; but, oh ! there are many, many here who 
are — well, where are they? They do not know that 
they have any inheritance. They cannot read their 
title clear to mansions in the skies, and, what is worse, 
they are unconcerned about it. If they were troubled 
about it, we would have hope; but no, they go their 
way, and, like Pliable, having got out of the Slough 
of Despond, they turn round and say to Christians, " You 
may have the brave country all to yourselves for me/" 
They are so fond of present pleasures, so easily enticed 
by the wily whispers of the arch-enemy, so soon over- 
come by their own passions, that they find it too hard 
to be a Christian ; to love Christ is a thing too difficult 
for them. Ah ! may God meet with you, and make you 



.212 Types and Emblems. 

wiser ! Poor souls, you will perish, some of you will 

perish while you are looking on at this world's bubbles 

and baubles ! You will perish ; you will go down to 

heli with this earth's joys in your mouths, and they will 

not sweeten those mouths when the pangs of hell get 

hold upon you ? Your life is short ; your candle nickers 

in its socket. You must soon go the way of all flesh. 

We never meet one week after another without some 

death occurring between. Out of this vast number 

surely it is all but impossible that we could all ever meet 

again. Perhaps before this day week some of us will 

have passed the curtain, have learned the great secret, 

and have looked into the invisible world, Whose portion 

will it be ? If it be thine, dear hearer, wilt thou mount 

to worlds of joy, or shall — 

" Devils plunge thee down to hell 
In infinite despair?" 

God make that a matter of concern with us first, and 

then may we come to Jesus, and receive the sprinkling 

of his precious blood ; and thus may he make it a matter 

of confidence with us that we are saved through him, 

and shall be partakers with them that are sanctified ? 

II. With a view of giving the whole incident a par- 
ticular DIRECTION 

Does it not strike you that there is here a special 
lesson for our unconverted sisters f Here are five 
daughters, I suppose young women, certainly unmarried 
women, and these five were unanimous in seeking to 
have a portion where God had promised it to his people. 
Have I any young women here who would dissent from 
that ? I am afraid I have S Elessed be God, for the many 
who come in among us — become solemnly impressed, 






Women's Rights.— A Parable. 213 

and give their 3 r oung days to Jesus ; but there are some — 
there may be some here of another mind. The tempta- 
tions of this wicked Metropolis, the pleasures of this 
perilous city, lead them away from their profession, and 
prevent their giving a fair hearing to God's Word. 
Well, but you are here, and may I, as a brother, put 
this question to you ? Do you not desire a portion in 
the skies? Have you no wish for glory? Have you 
no longing for the everlasting crown ? Can you sell 
Christ for a few hours of mirth ? Will you give him up 
for a giddy song or an idle companion ? Those are not 
your friends who would lead you from the paths of 
righteousness. Count them not dear, but loathe them, 
if they would entice you from Christ ? But, as you will 
certainly die, and will as certainly live for ever in endless 
woe or in boundless bliss, do see to your souls. " Seek 
first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all 
other things shall be added to you/' You have come 
fresh from the country, young woman, and, leaving your 
mother's care, it is very likely that you have begun to 
absent yourself from the means of grace, but I charge 
you not to do so. On the contrary, let this bind you to 
your mother's God, and may you feel that, whereas you 
might have neglected God's house hitherto and profaned 
God's day, yet henceforth, like the daughters of Zelo- 
phehad, you seek to have a portion in the promised land. 
The subject bears another way. Has it not a voice, 
iind a loud voice too, to the children of godly parents ? 
I like these young women saying that their father did 
not die with Korah, but that he only died the ordinary 
death which fell upon others because of the sin of the 
wilderness ; and also, their saying, " Why should the 



214 Types and Emblems. 

name of our father be clone away from among his family 
because he had no son ? " It is a good thing to see this 
respect to parents, this desire to keep up the honour of 
the family. I was thinking whether there may not be 
some here, some children of godly parents, who would 
feel it a sad thing if they should bring a disgrace upon 
the family name. Is it so, that though your father has 
been for many years a Christian, he has not one to 
succeed him ? O young man, have you no ambition 
to stand in his place, no wish to let his name be per- 
petuated in the Church of God ? Well, if the sons have 
no such ambition, or if there be none, let the daughters 
say to one another, " Our father never disgraced his 
profession, he did not die in the company of them that 
gathered themselves together against the Lord, but he 
served the Lord faithfully, and we will not let his name 
be blotted out from Israel; we will join ourselves to 
the people of God, and the family shall be represented 
still/' But, oh ! how I desire that the brothers and 
sisters would come together, and what a delightful thing 
it would be to see the whole family ! In that house- 
hold there were only five girls, but they all had 
their heritage. O father, would you not be happy 
if it should be so with your children ? Mother,, 
would not you be ready to say, " Lord, now lettest thou 
thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word, for 
mine eyes have seen thy salvation/' if you could see all 
your children brought in ? And why not, my brethren, 
why not ? We will give God no rest until it is so ; we 
will plead with him until they are all saved. And, 
young people, why not? The Lord's mercy is not 
straitened. The God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, 



Women's Rights. — A Parable. 215 

and your father's God, we trust, will be your God. O 
that you would follow in the footsteps of your parents so 
far as they followed Christ ! These daughters of Zelo- 
phehad seem to me to turn preachers, and I stand here 
to speak for them, and all five of them say to you, " We 
gained our inheritance by seeking for it through a 
Mediator." Young women, brothers and sisters, you 
shall gain it, too, by seeking it through a Saviour. 

And does not this text also speak to another class, 
— to orphans f These good girls had lost their 
parents, or otherwise the question would not have 
arisen. Father and mother had gone, had passed away, 
and therefore they had to go to Moses for themselves. 
When the parents could not come to Moses for them, 
they came for themselves. Think of the skies a mo- 
ment, some of you. Perhaps you were this morning 
in a very different place, but think of the skies a 
minute. No, I do not mean the meteoric stones; I 
do not mean the stars, nor yon bright moon ; but I 
want you to think of your mother, who is yonder. Do 
you remember when she gave you the last kiss, and bade 
you farewell, and said, " Follow me, my children, follow 
me to the skies ? " Think of a father who is there, his 
voice, doubtless, helping to swell the everlasting halle- 
lujah. Does he not beckon you from the battlements of 
heaven, and cry, " Children of my loins, follow me as I 
followed Christ ? " Some of us have an honoured grand- 
sire there, an honoured grandmother there. Many of 
you have got little infants there, young angels whom 
God lent you for a little time, and then took them 
to heaven to show you the way, to lure you to go up- 
wards too. You have all some dear friends there with 



216 Types and Emblems, 

whom you walked to God's house in company. They 
have gone, but I charge you, by the living God, to follow 
them. Break not your households in twain. Let no 
solemn rifts and rents come into the family, but, as they 
have gone to their rest, God grant unto you by the same 
road to come and rest eternally too. Jesus Christ is 
ready to receive sinners ; he is ready to receive you, and 
if you trust him, the joy and bliss which now your 
friends partake of shall be yours also. Daughters of 
godly parents, children of those who have gone before 
to eternal glory, I entreat you look to Jesus ; go and 
present your suit to him now. It shall surely prosper. 
If the question was once doubtful, it has now become 
"a statute of judgment. " The Lord has commanded it. 
May God bless these counsels and exhortations to you 
for Christ* s sake. Amen. 








Jp$ ^ln\h mi %10 ^m\\p> 



" If the clouds be fall of rain, they empty thems 3lves upon the 
earth." — Eccles. xi. 2. 




T was raining very heavily when I was thinking 
over this text. The sharp crack of the thun- 
der, and the quick flash of the lightning, 
seemed to be constant just where I sat. 
When I came here I found that you had 
not had a drop of rain, and the weather still 
continues hot and feverish. This seemed to 
me like an example and an illustration of the sovereignty 
of God's dispensations. True is it in the spiritual as well 
as in the natural economy, that one place is rained upon, 
and another is not rained upon. Id one part of the church 
God's grace descends in a flood, while another part 
remains as dry and arid as the wilderness itself. Even 
under the same ministrations one Christian's soul may be 
refreshed till it becomes like a watered garden, while 
another may remain parched as the desert. He hath the 
key of the rain, and it is for us to ask him to give us of the 
dew and the rain of his Holy Spirit. Let us walk humbly 
with him, lest he should say of us, as he did to his 



218 Types and Emblems. 

Jewish vineyard of old, "Also I will command the 
clouds that they rain no rain upon it." We may stand 
up, and look to the Most High, and learn our depen- 
dence upon him for spiritual blessings, just as the 
farmer, knowing his dependence for his harvest upon 
God, watches the sky and the clouds, for without the 
rain what can he do ? 

But, now, to come to the text itself: I purpose a 
meditation upon three of its practical uses. First, as 
suggesting a comfort for the timid ; secondly, as giving 
an argument to the doubting; and thirdly, as furnishing 
a lesson for the Christian. 

I. First, I think we may fairly use the text as a com- 
fort FOIl THE TIMID. 

The clouds are black, they lower; they shut out the 
sun-light ; they obscure the landscape. The timid one 
looks up and says, " Alas ! how black they are, and how 
they gather, fold on fold ! What a dark, gloomy day ! '* 
What makes them black ? It is because they are full, 
and hence light cannot pierce them. And if they be 
full, what then ? Why, then it will rain, and then the- 
hot earth will be refreshed, and every little plant, and 
every tiny leaf and rootlet of that plant will suck up 
moisture, and begin to laugh for joy. Out of the black 
sky comes the bright daisy, and the garden is painted 
with many colours, and the only palette that is used, 
is, after all, that black one, for the sky doth it by its* 
rain. 

Now, Christian, you too, are of a timid disposition, 
and every now and then your circumstances are not as 
you would like to arrange them. Losses come very 
closely upon one another. Friend after friend forsakes 



Black Clouds and Bright Blessings. 219 

you. Sickness treads upon the heel of sickness. All 
things are against you, as against Jacob of old. The 
clouds are very black, but may they not be black for the- 
very same reason as the clouds above you — because they 
are fall ? And is it not very possible that it will be with 
you as it has been often with God's saints, according to 
the hymn we sang just now — 

" Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take : 
The clouds ye so much dread 
Are big [aye, black] with mercy, and shall break 
In blessings on your head." 

If the clouds were not black, you might not expect rain, 
If your afflictions were not grievous, they would not be 
profitable. If your adversities did not pain and trouble 
you, they would not be blessed to you. We have heard 
some people say — "If this trouble had come in such 
and such a shape, I would not have minded it." But 
God meant you to mind it, for it was in your minding 
it that it was blessed to you. " By the blueness of the 
wound/' saith Solomon, "the hurt is made better/' 
AY hen the stroke causes black and blue, when really the 
spirit is thoroughly wounded, then the blessing comes. 
It is not merely said in the Scriptures that there is & 
needs-be for affliction. That is a great truth, but it is 
added then that there is a needs-be that the affliction 
should lower our spirit. Listen to the words — " Now 
for a season, if needs-be ye are in heaviness through 
manifold temptations." The needs-be is not for the 
temptation merely, but that ye be in heaviness feeling 
the temptation — not for the iron only, but for the iron 
entering into your soul. If the child liked the rod, it 
would be no chastisement ; and if the Christian loved 



2.20 Types and Emblems. 

his affliction while he was in it, and it seemed joyous to 
him, then it were no affliction ; but it is the very sharp- 
ness of it, the vinegar and gall, that is the medicine that 
produces the good effect. The blackness of the cloud 
proves its fulness, and its fulness brings the shower. 
I suppose we know this experimentally. As a church, 
we can look back upon mercies which God has given 
us in a very extraordinary manner. God intended that 
this house should be full of hearers every Sabbath-day 
for years. It is a very remarkable circumstance, and 
one that always astonishes me more, perhaps, than it 
does any of you, when I see the aisles and every place 
crowded Sabbath after Sabbath. But, how much of the 
success with which God has crowned our ministry, has 
been due to the most afflicting providence that ever 
befell a Christian minister or a Christian church ? Was 
it not, dear friends — to allude to that sad event which 
is still upon the minds of some of us, and will be till we 
die, when the cry was raised, and death came into the 
midst of our solemn assembly — was it not due to that, 
to a very great extent, that the preacher became known, 
and that so he has had an opportunity of speaking to many 
more souls than otherwise would have listened to him, 
concerning the unsearchable riches of Christ ? You will 
have found it so, I think, in your own private estate. A 
big wave has washed you on to a safe rock. A black life- 
boat has taken you out of a gay and bright, but leaky 
vessel, and brought you to your desired haven. You 
have been unburdened. If you have lost your riches, 
you have been better without them than with them. 
Your losses have, in the end, come to be practical gains. 
The good ship has gone across the waters more swiftly, 



Black Clouds and Bright Blessings. 221 

when some of that which was but needless ballast, has 
been heaved overboard. Can you not affirm of your 
spiritual experience — certainly I can of my own — that 
the pelting showers and fiercer storms have been most 
soul-enriching? It is when one labours under a 
deep sense of sin ; when perhaps one's hope is jostled 
to and fro like a reed shaken by the wind ; when the 
spirit sinks and the soul is brought very low ; that we 
learn to study the promises, find out their value, prove 
their faithfulness, and come to understand more than ever 
of the grace and goodness of a covenant-keeping God. 
" Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now have I 
kept thy word : " this is only another way of putting the 
same truth. The clouds were full of rain, but they 
emptied themselves upon the man who needed grace from 
on high. 

Now, brethren and sisters, what has been true in the 
past, depend upon it, is true in the present. I do not know 
■ — how can I tell — what is your particular trouble ; but 
you may well believe that he who appointed it, he who 
measured it, he who has set its bounds, will bring you to 
the end of it, and prove his gracious design in it all. Do 
not think that God deals roughly with his children, and 
gives them needless pain. It grieves him to grieve you. 
"He doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children 
of men." It is easy to have a faith that acts back- 
wards, but faith that will act forwards from the point, 
of your present emergency, is the true faith that 
you want now. Hath God helped you out of one trouble 
after another, and is it to be supposed that he will leave 
you in this? In six troubles he will be with you; 
yea, in seven there shall be no evil touch you. The 



222 Types and Emblems. 

particular water in which you now are struggling is 
intended and included in the promise, "When thou goest 
through the rivers I will be with thee, and through the 
floods, they shall not overflow thee." It is, 1 must 
confess, difficult sometimes to bring the promise down 
to the particular case, for unbelief fights hard against it; 
but remember, unless the promise be applied to the par- 
ticular case, it is like the liniment which is not applied 
to the wound, or like the medicine that is not received by 
the patient. The medicine not received may be very 
potent, but the man cannot know its value; and the 
promise may be very sweet and precious, but it cannot 
comfort you unless it be applied. Do ask, then, for 
grace that you may believe while you are still under the 
cloud, black as it looks, that it will empty itself in 
blessed rain upon you. 

So will it be on the largest possible scale in the whole 
Church of Christ. There are many clouds surrounding 
the church of God just now, and I must confess, that 
with all the religious activity there is abroad, there is very 
much to cause us great sorrow. The friends of evan- 
gelical opinions are few compared with the advocates of 
Broad Churchism and Romanism. The strength seems 
to be meanwhile on the wrong side, and the devil hath 
stirred up a fierce tempest, by reason of which some 
are alarmed. But we must not yield to fear. The 
Master knows. He understands that it is right for his 
soldiers to be sometimes rebuffed at Ai, though they 
have won Jericho, that afterwards they may search and 
find out the accursed thing, and stone the Achan that 
has brought upon them defeat. He will be with us 
yet, and the time shall come when we shall see that 



Black Clouds and Bright Blessings. 223 

-every cloud that was full of rain has emptied itself upon 
the earth. 

II. Our second point is an argument with the 

DOUBTING AND THE DESPONDING. 

It is a law of nature that a full thing begins to empty 
itself. When the cloud gets full, it no longer has the 
power of retaining its fluid contents, but it pours them 
down upon the earth. When the river gets swollen, 
does it not rush with greater impetuosity towards the 
deep ? And the ocean itself is continually emptying 
itself into the ocean that is above the firmament, that 
same ocean above the firmament emptying itself 
again, according to the text, npon the earth. As 
there is a circulation in the body, and every pumping 
of blood into the heart is accompanied by another 
pumping of it out again, so is there a circulation in this 
great world; everything revolving, and the whole 
machine kept in order, not by hoarding, but by spend- 
ing ; not by retaining, but by consecutively getting 
.and giving. 

Well now, dear friends, you may gather that when 
the cloud is full it is going to rain. I want you to draw 
an argument from this. Our gracious God never makes 
a store of any good thing, but he intends to give it to its. 
Just think for a moment of God, our gracious Father. 
He is love. His name is love. His nature is love. 
Love is God. " God is love." He is all goodness. He 
is a bottomless, shoreless sea, brimful of goodness. He 
is full of pardoning goodness to forgive sin. He is 
full of accepting favour to receive poor prodigals to 
his bosom. He is full of faithful goodness to watch 
over his dear children ; full of bounteous goodness to 



224 Types and Emblems. 

bestow upon them all that they want. Now, if there 
be such a plenitude of goodness in the Father, it must 
be for some object — not for himself. Why should it be 
given to himself? It must be there for his creatures. 
Is it not written that he delighteth in mercy? We 
know that he maketh the sun to shine upon the evil as 
well as upon the just. Then I, even though I be evil, 
will hope that this store of goodness in the heart of the 
everlasting Father is intended, some of it, at any rate, 
to be poured out upon me, poor unworthy me. " If 
the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon 
the earth," and if God be full of goodness, it is that he 
may spend that goodness upon the sons of men. But 
whither come those bright and sparkling drops, flashing 
like diamonds in the sun-light, turning to many colours, 
and forming the wondrous iris ? Whither come ye, 
whither come ye, O ye bright and heaven-born drops 
of matchless rain, all pure and free from every stain ; 
whither come ye ? et We are come down to the black, 
hard, dusty earth ; we are going to fall upon the desert 
or upon the sea ; we descend on fields that ask not for 
us; we descend upon the soil that is chapped and needs 
us, but has not a tongue to speak for us, nor a heart to 
feel its need. We come down from our element in 
heaven to tabernacle among men, and to do them good." 
And so it is with the goodness of our blessed Father. If it 
be in him, it is there for the earth, for those who need it ; 
for those who do not even feel their need, and whose need 
is, therefore, all the deeper ; who cannot feel their need, 
and, therefore, have a need that is deepest of all needs. 
Oh ! blessed goodness, that delights to spend itself upon 
the un worthiest of men ! 



Black Clouds and Bright Blessings. 225 

Ah, troubled, doubting soul ! think again ; let me ask 
you this time to muse a little upon Jesus Christ the Son 
of the Father. Beloved, it is a part of our belief that 
" it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness 
dwell." We believe that in the atoning sacrifice there 
is a fulness of satisfaction made to divine justice; that 
there is a fulness of cleansing power in the precious 
blood ; that there is a fulness of righteousness in Christ's 
holy life ; a fulness of vivifying power in his resurrec- 
tion ; a fulness of prevalence in his plea ; and a fulness 
of representation in his standing before the eternal 
throne to take possession of heaven for us. No one 
here, I think, looks upon Christ as a well without 
water, or as a cloud without rain. Now, dear heart, if 
thou believest Christ to be a cloud that is full of rain, 
for what reason is he full ? Why, that he may empty 
himself upon the earth. There was no need that he 
should be a man full of sympathy except to sympa- 
thise with mourning men and women. There was no 
need that he should bleed except that he might bleed 
for you. There was no necessity that he should die 
except that the power of his death might deliver you 
from death. There was no need whatever that he should 
be a servant unless that his obedience might justify 
many. The fulness of his essential Godhead may be 
supposed to be there for himself, but the fulness of his 
mediatorial character is a mere waste, unless it is there 
for you. A man looking at the coal-mines of England, 
naturally considers that God made that coal with the 
intention of supplying the world's inhabitants with fuel, 
and that he stored it, as it were, away in those dark cellars 
underground for this favoured nation, that the wheels 

15 



226 Types and Emblems. 

of its commerce might be set in motion. Well, now, if 
1 go to those everlasting mines of divine faithfulness 
and of atoning efficacy, which are laid up in the veins of 
Jesus Christ, I must conceive that there is a supply 
laid up for those who will require it ; and so there is. 
Doubt it not ; there is cleansing for the guilty, there is 
life for the dead, there is healing for the sick. If Jesus 
be full of power to save, he will save you* If you cry 
unto him, he will empty himself upon you. 

To proceed yet further, I would ask the doubter to 
look at the infinite fulness of power which is treasured 
up in the Holy Spirit. It is a part of our conviction that 
there is no heart so hard that the Holy Spirit cannot 
soften it; no soul so dead that he cannot quicken it; 
and no man so desperately set on mischief that his will 
cannot be subdued by the effectual power of the Holy 
Ghost working in him. We believe the Holy Ghost to be 
no mere influence, no inferior or secondary power of moral 
suasion, but to be absolutely divine — a divine Being 
exerting irresistible force upon the mental powers of 
man Well, now, if there be this might, surely when 
he appears in the character of a comforter and a 
qnickener, his might is there to be exerted. Is thy 
heart hard ? He will empty his softening influence 
upon it. Is it dead ? His quickening power shall there 
find a congenial sphere. Art thou dark ? Then there is 
room for his light Art thou sick ? Then is there a pro- 
vince for his healing energy. " If the clouds be full of 
rain, they empty themselves upon the earth ; " and, if 
the Spirit of the living God be full of might and energy, 
it is that he may manifest it all in these poor, needy 
souls who desire to feel its power. 



Black Clouds and Bright Blessings. 227 

What a wondrous book this Bible of ours is. When 
you have read this Bible through a score of times, you 
may have only strolled over the surface, looked at the 
land, or ploughed at most the upper soil. If you take 
one passage, and dig deep for the treasure that coucheth 
beneath, you will find it inexhaustible. The Book has 
in it a matchless fulness. It were as possible to measure 
space, or to grasp the infinite in the hollow of your hands, 
as to investigate the entire compass of Holy Scripture. 
It is high ; I cannot attain unto it. It is broad ; I can- 
not reach its boundary. But oh, what an abundance of 
provisions, and what a fulness of comfort there are stored 
up in the promises of God's Word. 

" What more can lie say than to you he hath said ; 
You who unto Jesus for refuge have fled." 

Now, what is this fulness in the Bible for? "If the 
clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the 
earth/' If the Scriptures be full of comfort, they are 
intended to be enjoyed, to be believed, to be fed upon 
by you. There is nothing to spare in this book. 
There is not too little, but rest assured, there is 
nothing too much. He that goeth out in the morning 
after this manna, though he gathereth his omer full, he 
shall have nothing over, and if he gathereth little, yet 
still he shall have no lack. There is enough for all, 
and all its fulness is meant to be used. I cannot 
amplify on this thought. I have not time to beat it out 
more, but I hope and pray it may be useful to some of 
you. You do not trust God, many of you, as you ought 
to do. You measure his corn with your own bushel. You 
know that you would fail your fellow-men and you think 
that he will fail you. You know your own weakness and 



228 Types and Emblems. 

infirmity, and you imagine that he will be faint or weary. 
You know that you could not act very generously to- 
wards some who have been ungrateful and unkind to 
\ou, and you think he cannot. Remember the 
passage — " My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither 
are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the 
heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher 
than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." 
You think about saving ; he only thinks about giving. 
You take a delight in getting ; he takes his delight in 
bestowing. Go to him ! go to him ! You would not 
need anybody to be long praying you to accept. Do not 
think that God needs much beseeching in order to give, 
for it is as easy for him to give as it is for you to accept; 
and, as accepting seems congenial to our nature, so does 
bestowing seem congenial to his. Go to him, and he 
will empty out his grace upon you ! 

III. The text furnishes a lesson to Christians. 

" If the clouds be full of rain, they empty them- 
selves upon the. earth." The drift of the passage is, of 
course, to be gathered from the connection, and it was 
intended by Solomon to teach us liberality. He says — 
" Give a portion to seven, and also to eight ; for thou 
knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth. If the 
clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the 
earth/' By which he means to say — " If your pocket 
is full, empty it out upon the poor and needy ; and if God 
has endowed you with much of this world's substance, 
look out for cases of necessity, and consider it as much 
the object of your existence to bestow help upon the 
needy, as it is the design in the creation of a cloud that 
it should empty itself upon the earth." 



Black Clouds and Bright Blessings. 229 

Do the clouds ever lose by emptying themselves ? No 
doubt when the cloud has emptied itself out it is re- 
newed, and still goeth on its course. At any rate, 
however it may be with the cloud, if it be dissipated 
when the rain descends, it is not so with the Christian 
man. God hath a way of giving by cart-loads to those 
who give away by shovel-falls. If we give at the back- 
door — and I do not think we ought to give at any other 
door — he will be pretty sure to give in greater abund- 
ance at the window, and at the front door likewise. 
Says Bunyan : — 

" There was a man, and some did count him mad, 
The more he gave away the more he had." 

Thank God for men of that sort. " There is that with- 
holdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty • " 
and, on the other hand, that sentence which hath in it 
the nature of a proverb and a prophecy is often verified : 
"the liberal soul shall be made fat." I need not say 
much upon this to the members of my own congregation, 
with whom I am acquainted. Most of you, I believe, 
do empty yourselves upon the earth in proportion as 
God assists you, and enables you to give ; but there are 
many persons in this land — I hope their number is on 
the decrease — worth thousands upon thousands a year, 
whose contributions to the cause of God are so utterly 
insignificant, that it is difficult to suppose that the love 
of Christ has ever gone far enough into them to thaw 
their hearts, for it has not even penetrated their pockets, 
making the gold to melt, and their riches to flow in 
liberality. I was spoken to by a brother minister not 
long ago, when I was preaching for him, and he said — 
t( Do not spare them, sir ; do not spare them : there is 



230 Types and Emblems. 

one pew there in front of the pulpit, where three men 
sit who are worth a million of money between them ; 
our chapel is a thousand pounds in debt, and yet three 
of our members have a million between them/' I 
said to him, " I think you ought not to ' spare 
them ' yourself ; I do not know why I should say it, 
only coming here to preach occasionally/' " Well," 
said he, "but you can say, perhaps, what nobody else 
may." Really, it is a most horrible thing that there 
should be such positive covetousness allied with a pro- 
fession of Christianity. Christian men — shall I call 
them so? — who, after all the plain precepts of Scripture, 
practise idolatry. They talk of being " stewards/' but 
they act practically as if they were the owners. When 
a man once gets into the habit of giving to the cause 
of God, it becomes as much a delight to contribute of 
his substance as to pray for God's bounty, or to drink 
in the promise. How could I dare to exist if I did not 
do something for Christ ? Not do something for Jesus ? 
Were it not to rob me of the highest privilege which can 
be accorded to a man this side the grave ? When I pray, 
I ask for something for myself; when I praise, it is but 
little I can render; but oh, to think that I, a poor 
creature of God's own making, should be able to give 
to him ! It puts the creature in the highest conceivable 
light. It lifts him even above angels. There are works 
the laborious, disinterested, self-sacrificing Christian can 
do for Christ — 

" Which perfect saints above 
And holy angels cannot do." 

Let the wealthy empty themselves upon the earth, and 

this shall be the way to fill themselves. 



Black Clouds and Bright Blessings. 231 

But, dear friends, though not many of us are entrusted 

■with much wealth, we have other aptitudes to be useful. 

Some Christians have a considerable amount of ability 

to serve the Lord. They are, perhaps, able to speak for 

the Master. Now, I think that wherever there is some 

knowledge of God's Word, a personal acquaintance with 

its power, and a facility to speak, we should exercise our 

talent, if it be but one ; and if we have ten, we should 

not keep one of the ten to ourselves. " If the clouds 

be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth ; " 

and if a man be full of ability, he is the more bound to 

empty himself. If there is any minister who ought to 

work hard, it is the man who is successful. If there is 

a person living who ought to be always successful, it 

is the man whom God helps to preach with power. 

I say, if God makes me a full cloud, I must go on 

emptying. If he gives me good store, I must take care 

that I scatter it. We must do, each man according to 

his ability, for God requireth not what a man hath not, 

but what he hath. Now, dear Christian friends, are 

you all, out of love for Jesus, doing what you can for 

him? Are you, whether you be big clouds or little 

clouds, trying to empty yourselves upon the earth? The 

nearest people of your acquaintance — your children 

your kinsfolk, your neighbours — are you trying to show 

these the way of life — 

" Do you gladly tell to sinners round, 
What a dear Saviour you have found." 

Though comparatively few of us have great genius, 

we all have some little capacity. Some Christians have 

a large amount of experimental knowledge. They are not 

eloquent, they are not educated, but they are wise. It 



232 Types and Emblems. 



TV 



has been our privilege to have met with those in the very 
humblest walks of life, whose experimental knowledge 
of divine things was very much more profound than 
would usually be found in a doctor of divinity; men 
and women who have learned their theology not in halls 
and colleges, but in courts and cellars ; learned how to 
pray on bare knees; learned how to cry to the God of 
providence when the cupboard was empty ; have tried 
the reality of religion in the hospital, and perhaps in the 
workhouse ; some who have done business in the great 
waters, and have seen the works of the Lord, and his 
wonders in the deep. 

It is a great treat to talk to some of those old saints. 
Their lips are like the lips of the girl in the fable, which 
dropped jewels. There is a savour, an unction, about 
what they say. It is not theory, but experience with 
them ; not the letter, but the very soul, and marrow, 
and fatness of the truth. You do not find them looking 
to an arm of flesh, or talking about the dignity of man- 
hood, or vaunting the excellence of mental power. They 
know of nothing except human weakness and nothing- 
ness ; they trust in nothing but the divine arm, and the 
invincible strength of the Holy Ghost. Are there not 
some such in our midst? If you have any experience, 
let me say to you — do, as you have opportunity, 
tell it out; empty it upon the earth. If you have 
gained some knowledge of God, communicate it. If you 
have proved him, confess to a generation about you that 
he is a faithful God. I recollect in a time of great 
despondency deriving wonderful comfort from the testi- 
mony of an aged minister who was blind, and had 
been so for twenty years. When he addressed us, he 



Black Clouds and Bright Blessings. 233 

spoke of the faithfulness of God, with the weak voice of 
a tremulous old man, but with the firmness of one who 
knew what he said, because he had tasted and handled it. 
I thanked God for what he had said. It was not much 
in itself. If I had read it in a book, it would not have 
struck me ; but as it came from him, from the very man 
who knew it and understood it, it came with force and 
with unction. So you experienced Christians, if any 
others are silent, you must not be. You must tell the 
young ones of what the Lord has done for you. Why, 
some of you good old Christian people are apt to get 
talking about the difficulties, troubles, and afflictions you 
have met with more than about the succours, the deli- 
verances, and the joys you have proved ; not unlike 
those persons in " Pilgrim's Progress,'' who told poor 
Pilgrim about the lions, and giants, and dragons, and 
the sloughs, and hills, and all that could terrify and 
dishearten him. They might have mentioned all this, 
but they should also have told of Mr. Greatheart, and 
they should not have forgotten to speak of the eternal 
arm that sustains Christian in his pilgrimage. Tell the 
troubles, that were wise ; but tell the strength of God 
that makes you sufficient, that is wiser still. Empty 
yourselves. If you have got experience, empty your- 
selves upon the earth. 

I cannot particularise here what manner of endow- 
ment God has committed to any or all of you ; but I 
think there is not one saint out of heaven but has his 
niche to fill, his particular work to do, and therefore 
some special talent entrusted to him. Do not hide it 
in the earth. Dig up that talent, and that napkin too, 
and go and put it out to heavenly interest for the 



234 Types and Emblems. 

benefit of others, and for the glory of your God. 
Herein is the folly of so many Christians, that, being 
wrapped up in the interest of their own salvation, and 
taken up with their own doubts and fears, there is little 
care they feel and little trouble they take for others. 
They never seem to empty themselves out into the 
world that is around them, and go forth into a world 
bigger than the homestead in which they live. But when 
a man begins to think about others, to care for others, 
to value the souls of others, then his thoughts of God 
get larger, then his consolations grow greater, and his 
spirit becomes more Godlike. A selfish Christianity ! 
What shall I call it but an unchristian Christianity, a 
solecism in terms, a contradiction in its very essence. 
You do not find the men who are anxious after others 
so often troubled in mind as those who give no thought 
except to themselves. Mr. Whitefield, in his diary, has 
his times of depression, but they are comparatively few ; 
and when he is going from one " pulpit-throne," as 
he calls it, to another and is preaching all day long, and 
is hearing the sobs and cries of sinners, and perhaps 
bearing the hootings and peltings of a mob ; sitting down 
as soon as he has done in public to finish up his letters, or 
to devote an hour to prayer — why, he has not time enough 
to get desponding ; he cannot afford space enough to be 
doubting his own interest in Christ. He is engaged in 
his Master's service, and has so much of the blessing 
of God upon it, that he goes right on without needing to 
stop. Christians ! may you get into the same delightful 
state — warm with love to . Christ, fervent with zeal for 
the spread of his kingdom. You shall not need then to 
ask any longer — 



Black Clouds and Bright Blessings. 235 

" 'Tis a point I long to know, 
Oft it causes anxious thought — ■ 
Do I love the Lord or no, 
Am I his, or am I not ? " 

but you may give a practical answer to such scruples 
by saying— 

" There's not a lamb in all thy flock, 
I would disdain to feed ; 
There's not a foe before whose face 
I'd fear thy cause to plead." 

" If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves 
upon the earth." 

Observe, lastly, when it is that the clouds do empty 
themselves. The text says, when they are full. This 
is a broad hint, I think, to the Christian; it tells him 
when to work. David was to attack the Philistines at a 
certain signal. " When thou hearest the sound of a 
going in the tops of the mulberry- trees, then thou shalt 
bestir thyself/' Take this as a divine signal ; when 
you are full, it is time for you to set about doing- 
good, emptying yourselves upon the earth. Mr. Jay 
tells young students — and there are some here — that 
they cannot always sermonise, but that there will come 
times when they can. " Now," says he " when I find 
that the wind blows I put up the sails ; I make hay while 
the sun shines, and get the outlines of my sermons when 
God assists me to do so, that I may have them in readi- 
ness, when, perhaps, the breeze may not seem to be so 
favourable, and my mind not so much upon the wing." 

Do good to yourselves by storing up when you have 
opportunity. But yet Christians have particular times 
when they feel fuller than at others. A sermon has 
warmed your heart ; or you feel grateful, joyous, and 



236 Types and Emblems. 

zealous, on some other account. Well, perhaps, you will 
feel sick to-morrow; so you had better go and do some 
good to-day. " Nothing like the time present," is the 
world-old motto. " A bird in the hand is worth two in 
the bush," saith the proverb. Rest assured that a duty 
to-day done will be worth two duties saved for to- 
morrow. A word spoken for Christ to somebody before 
you go out of the Tabernacle may be timely, opportune, 
profitable ; but, if you wait for season or circumstance 
to be more convenient, you may wait and wait till you 
are weary of waiting, but you might as well expect a lost 
hour to return as a lost opportunity. A Primitive 
Methodist brother said at one of the meetings lately, 
that the reason why the Primitive Methodists got on so 
was, that while other Christians were waiting for some- 
thing to turn up, the Primitive Methodists turned it up 
themselves. It was a quaint thing to say certainly, but 
there is a great truth in it. Some Christian people are 
always biding their time and reserving themselves for a 
happy juncture. They want a fit occasion for doing 
good, and they mean to do something worthy of them- 
selves when they get the opportunity. My brethren, you 
have always an opportunity if you will. How does 
Solomon put it ? " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do " 
— the first thing which comes — "do it with all thy 
might. " I am ashamed to have to say as much as this 
in this vast City of London. Want work? Nonsense! 
Laziness ! Want work in a city like London ! A Chris- 
tian woman want work for God in a city of three million 
inhabitants, with all its sickness and sorrow, its destitu- 
tion and squalor ! A Christian man not know what to 
do to serve his Master with all these courts, and alleys, 



Black Clouds and Bright Blessings. 237 

and crowded houses ; with all their filth and moral 
pollution, with all the thousands of gin-palaces that glare 
in the streets, and the crimes of drunkenness that 
darken the homes of the people ! Nothing for a Christian 
to do ! You are lazy, sirs ; lazy, listless, sluggish, or 
else you would never raise such a question. It is not, 
" What should I do ?" but "Where shall I begin doing it 
— which is the first point ? " And I would say, begin at 
the point that is nearest to you. So they did when 
they built the walls of Jerusalem. Every man built 
opposite to his own house. There, you see, the advan- 
tage was he had not to walk two miles to his work at 
morn and then come back at night. He built opposite 
to his own house, so he was spared all that trouble. 
And when he had a little leisure time, when he 
went to his dinner, he could sit and look at his work, 
and think how to do it better next time. There was a 
further advantage in that. Much economy and great 
benefit would come of it were Christians to work near 
where they live, and take up that part of Christian 
service most congenial to their circumstances and to 
their tastes. " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do " — 
next to thine own door — " do it with all thy might." 
Begin to do it ; continue to do it, being always steadfast 
and immovable in the work of the Lord. But if 
there be a time when you shall specially and particu- 
larly labour for Christ, do it when you are full of his love. 
You have had a mercy lately — a great mercy ; now is 
the time for liberality. You were spared from bank- 
ruptcy during the great crisis : consecrate to God what 
might have been lost. You feel full of love to Jesus ; 
go, talk about Jesus to those who do not know him. 



238 Types and Emblems. 

You are full of zeal ; let it manifest itself. You are full 
of faith; exercise it. You are full of hope; now go 
and lead others into the same hopeful state. Pray for 
a blessing upon others when you have had the best 
season of prayer, the sweetest period of communion at 
the Lord's Table, or when you have been well fed on 
the Word. " If the clouds be full, they empty them- 
selves upon the earth/' 

God grant to those of you who have no rest, who are 
without God, and without Christ, that ye may know 
your emptiness ; and then the Lord fill you with his 
own rich grace, as he is wont to do to all those that put 
their trust in him. 






jfif-jt ijfyto^ 



11 So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a 
stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him ; hut there was no sword 
in the hand of David." — 1 Samuel xvii. 50. 




CAREFUL perusal of the whole chapter will 
well repay your pains. I have selected a 
verse for convenience, but I want the entire 
narrative for a text. If you are well versed 
in the history, we shall have no need of any 
preface or exordium. So we shall proceed 
at once to regard David, in his conflict with 
Goliath, and his victory over him, first, as a type of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, and, secondly, as an example for 
ourselves. As that which is a type of the head always 
bears a relationship to the members, and as the mem- 
bers of Christ's mystical body now are, and shall yet 
more fully be, like unto himself, it is but one thought, 
after all, that we shall be following out in the meditation 
that lies before us. 

I. Let us begin by calling your attention to the fact 
that David in this matter was a type of our Lord 
Jesus Christ. 

The early fathers of the church were very great in 



240 Types and Emblems. 

opening up typical analogies. So full, indeed, were thev 
in their expositions, and so minute in their details, that 
at length they went too far, and degenerated into trifling. 
Origen, for example, very notably exceeded what can be 
regarded as wise interpretation in giving spiritual mean- 
ings to literal records. And others, who essayed to go 
yet farther than that great master of mysticism, very 
soon did much damage to the church of God, bringing 
precious truths into serious discredit. The study of the 
types of the Old Testament has scarcely regained its 
proper place in the Christian church since the days in 
which those gracious men, by their imprudent zeal, per- 
verted it. We cannot, however, bring ourselves to think 
that a good thing ceases to be good because it has at 
some time been turned to an ill account. We think it 
can still be used properly and profitably. Within certain 
limits, then — limits, we suppose, which there is little 
danger of transgressing in these mechanical, unpoetic 
times — the types and the allegories of Holy Scripture may 
be used as a hand-book of instruction — a vade mecum of 
sound doctrine. Now, by common consent of all Evan- 
gelical Christians, David is accepted to be an eminent 
type of the Lord Jesus Christ. With regard to this 
particular transaction let us note, at the outset, that 
before he fought with Goliath, David was anointed of 
God. Samuel had gone down to Bethlehem and poured 
a horn of oil upon his head. The parallel will readily 
occur to you. Thus hath the Lord found out for him- 
self one whom he has chosen out of the people. With 
his holy oil hath he anointed him. Upon Saul's head a 
phial of oil was poured — upon David's head a full horn 
of oil. This may perhaps be designed to contrast the 



David's First Victory. 211 

brevity and scant renown of Saul's reign, with the length, 
and power, and excellence of the reign of David. Or, 
being interpreted spiritually, it may denote that the law, 
the old Judaism of which Saul is the type, had but a 
limited measure of blessing, while that of the gospel, 
which David represents, is characterized by its abounding 
fulness. Jesus, the antitype of David, is anointed with 
the oil of gladness above his fellows. Grace and truth 
came by Jesus Christ. The Spirit was not given by 
measure unto him. David was anointed several times — 
he was anointed, as you read in the chapter preceding 
our text, "in the midst of his brethren" — anointed, 
as you find in 2 Samuel ii. 4, by his brethren, the 
men of Judah — and anointed again, as you will observe 
in 2 Samuel v. 3, by all the elders of Israel. We will 
not go into that now, but it will suffice us to note that 
so was our Lord anointed of God, is anointed of his 
saints, and shall be anointed of the whole church. The 
Spirit of the Lord was upon him, and it was in the power 
of that Spirit with which he was anointed of the Father, 
that he went forth to fight the great battles of his 
church. At his baptism, coming up out of the Jordan, 
he was anointed by the Spirit as it rested upon him, 
descending out of heaven like a dove ; and straightway 
he went, as he was driven, into the wilderness, and held 
that notable forty days' conflict with the arch-fiend, the 
dire adversary of souls. His battles were in the spirit 
and power of the Highest, for the might and majesty of 
the Eternal Spirit rested upon him. 

See how the correspondence goes on. Our Lord was 
sent by his Father to his brethren. As David was sent 
by Jesse to his brethren with suitable presents and 

16 



242 Types and Emblems. 

comfortable words, in order to commune with them, 
even so in the fulness of time was our Lord com- 
missioned to visit his brethren. He remained concealed 
for a while in the house of his reputed father, but after- 
wards he came forth, and was distinctly recognised as 
the sent One of God, bearing countless gifts in his 
hands, coming on an embassage of mercy and of love 
from God to those whom he was not ashamed to call 
his brethren. We have read how David was treated. 
His brethren did not receive him lovingly. They 
answered his unaffected kindness with unprovoked rude- 
ness : bitter things did they lay to his charge. How 
truly does this answer to the manner in which our Lord, 
the Son of David, was abused. He came unto his own, 
and his own received him not. Though he came to 
them with words of tenderness, they replied to him with 
words of scorn. For his blessings they gave him 
curses; for the bread of heaven they gave him stones; 
and for the benedictions of heaven they gave him the spite 
of earth, the maledictions of hell ! Never was a brother, 
"the firstborn among many brethren," so ill-used by 
the rest of the household. Surely that parable of the 
wicked husbandman was fulfilled toward him. We 
know it is written that the vine dresser said, " This 
is my son, they will reverence him ; " but contrariwise 
they said, " This is the heir : let us kill him, and the 
inheritance shall be ours." Jesus was roughly handled 
by his brethren, whom he came to bless. David, you 
will remember, answered his brethren with great gentle- 
ness. He did not return railing for railing, but with 
much gentleness he endured their churlishness. In this 
he supplied us with but a faint picture of our beloved 



David's First Victory. 243 

Master, who, when he was reviled, reviled not again. 
"Consider him that endured such contradiction of 
sinners against himself." His only reply, even to the 
strokes which were to effect his death, was, " Father, 
forgive them, for they know not what they do." " We hid 
as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and. 
we esteemed him not." Yet for all that, no word of 
anger dropped from his lips. He might have said, iC Is 
there not a cause ? " Little spake he, however, in his 
own defence ; he rather went about his life-work as 
zealously as if all who saw him had approved him. So 
David, being thus rejected of his brethren, became a 
type of Christ. 

We pass on to observe that David was moved by an 
intense love of his people. He saw them defied by the 
Philistine. As he marked how they were crushed in 
spirit before their formidable enemies, a fervent indigna- 
tion stirred his soul ; but when he heard the terms of 
defiance, he felt that the God of Israel himself was com- 
promised in this quarrel. The name of Jehovah was 
dishonoured ! That braggart giant who stalked before 
the hosts defied the armies of the living God ! No 
wonder that the warm and devout heart of the brave 
young shepherd was moved with a mighty heaving. 
The passion of a warrior kindled in his breast at the 
sound of that profane voice of the uncircumcised 
Philistine, who could trifle with the honour of Jehovah, 
the God of heaven and of earth ! A further motive was 
present to stimulate his patriotic ambition. How could 
David's bosom fail to glow with strong emotion when he 
w T as told that the man who should vanquish and slay 
that Philistine should be married to the king's daughter ? 



244 Types and Emblems. 

Such a prize might well quicken his ardour. But with 
all these motives acting upon him, his determination 
to go forth and do battle with the champion of Philistia 
was prompt and resolute. Now in all this he plainly 
foreshadowed our Lord Jesus Christ. He loved his 
own : he was always ready to lay down his life for the 
sheep. But he loved his Father: "Wist ye not/-' he 
had said of old, "that I must be about my Father's- 
business?" "The zeal of thine house hath eaten me 
up." And then there was the joy that was set before 
him that he should have the church for his spouse ; that 
at the peril, not to say the price of his life, he should 
obtain her ; that he should see of the travail of his soul in 
her, and should be satisfied. She was to be lifted up to 
his royalties, and to share his crown and throne. The new 
Jerusalem, the mother of us all, was to be unto Jesus 
the gift of God as his reward • and this inspired him, so 
he went forth and entered upon the battle for our sakes. 
Let us pause and bless his name that ever he should 
have loved the people, and that the saints should have 
been in his hands. Let us bless him that the zeal of 
God's house did eat him up, — that he consecrated him- 
self so fully to the great enterprise. Above all, let us 
humbly and gratefully bless him that he loved us and 
gave himself for us. As a part of his church whom 
he had betrothed unto himself for ever, we are par- 
takers in all that he did. It was for us that he 
fought the fight, for us he won the victory, for us he 
has gone into glory. And he will come by-and-bye 
to take us up to behold that glory, and be with 
liim where he is. While we see the type in David, 
let us take care not to forget to adore Jesus himself, 






David's First Victory. 215 

who is here mirrored forth to our minds in the 
achievement of our salvation. 

I might, indeed, instance many further details in 
which David yet further became a type of our Lord. 
The whole narrative being full of minute particulars, 
supplies us copiously with points of analogy. But there 
is one thing I would have you specially observe. 

Goliath is called in the Hebrew, not " champion," as we 
read it in the English, but the middle-man, the mediator. 
If you put the whole case fairly before your own minds, 
you will readily see the fitness of the word that is used. 
There is the host of the Philistines on the one side, and 
there is the host of Israel on the other side. A valley 
lies between them. Goliath says, "1 will represent 
Philistia. I stand as the middle-man. Instead of all 
the rank and file coming forth personally to the fight, I 
appear as the representative of my nation — the mediator. 
Choose you a mediator who will come and contend with 
me. Instead of the battle being between the indivi- 
duals of which the respective armies are composed, let 
two representative men decide in dread duel the ques- 
tion in debate." Now, it is exactly upon that ground 
that the Lord Jesus Christ fought the battles of his 
people. We fell representatively in the first Adam, and 
our salvation now is by another representative — the 
second Adam. He is the Middleman, the " one Media- 
tor between God and man." In his love to us, and his 
zeal for the glory of God, we may view him as 
stepping forward into the midst of the arena which 
divides the camps of good and of evil, of God and of the 
devil, and there facing the defiant adversary, he stands to 
contend in our name and on our behalf, if we be indeed 



246 Types and Emblems. 

his people, that he may decide for us the quarrel which 
never could have been decided by us. Personally, we 
should, beyond a doubt, have been put to the rout. But 
his one single arm is enough to win the victory for 
us, and for ever to end the conflicts between heaven and 
hell. 

Mark well our warrior chief as he goes forth to the 
light. The son of Jesse rejected all carnal weapons. 
He might have had them — they put the helmet on his- 
head, and the mail about his body, and they were about 
to gird the sword upon his loins — but he said, " I can- 
not go with these, for I have not proved them." In like 
manner the Son of David renounced all earthly armour. 
They would have taken our Lord by force, and made him 
a King, but he said, " My kingdom is not of this world." 
Swords enough would have leaped from their scabbards 
at his bidding. It was not alone Peter, whose too-hasty 
sword smote the ear of Malchus, but there were many 
zealots who would have been all too glad to have followed 
the star of Jesus of Nazareth as in former days ; and yet 
more frequently in later days, the Jews followed impostors 
who declared themselves to be commissioned by the 
Most High for their deliverance. But Jesus said, "Put 
up thy sword into the sheath. They that take the sword 
shall perish by the sword." No doubt one of the tempta- 
tions of the desert was not only that he should have the 
kingdoms of the world, but that he should have them by 
the use of such means as Satan would suggest. He 
must fall down and worship Satan : he must use the carnal 
weapon, which would be tantamount to worshipping him. 
Jesus would not have it. To this day the great fight of 
Jesus Christ with the powers of darkness is not with 



David's First Victory. 247 

sword and helmet, but with the smooth stones of the 
brook. The simple preaching of the gospel, with the 
shepherd's crook of the great Head of the church held 
in our midst — this it is that lays low Goliath, and shall 
lay him low to the last day. Vain is it for the church 
even to think that she shall win the victory by wealth, or 
by rank, or by civil authority. No government will 
assist her. To the power of God alone she must look, 
" Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the 
Lord of hosts/' Happy will it be for the church when 
she learns that lesson. The preaching of the cross, 
which is " to them that perish foolishness," is, neverthe- 
less, to us who believe Christ, " the power of God, and 
the wisdom of God." 

See, then, our glorious Champion going forward to the 
fray with weapons of his own choosing, and those such 
as human wisdom despises, because they do not appear 
to be adapted to the work. With great strength and 
pow r er, nevertheless, did he go forth, for he went in the 
name of God. " Thou comest to me," said David, " with 
a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield : but I 
come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts." Such, 
too, is the predominating influence which renders the 
gospel omnipotent. Christ is God's propitiation. God 
hath " set him forth to be a propitiation for sin." 
Christ is appointed of God, anointed of God, sent 
of God. And the gospel is God's message, attended 
with God's Spirit. If it be not, then is it weak as 
water — it must fail. But since the Lord has sent it, and 
he has promised to bless it, we may rest assured it will 
accomplish the ends for which it was ordained. " I come 
to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts !" These 



24S Types and Emblems. 

words might serve as a motto for all those who are sent 
of Christ, and represent him in the dread battle for pre- 
cious souls. This was Christ's watchword, when for 
our sakes, and on our behalf, he came to wrestle with sin, 
to bear the wrath of God, and to vanquish death and 
hell ! He came in the name of God. 

Mark you well that David did smite Goliath, and he 
smote him effectually — not in the loins, or on the hand, 
or on the foot — but in a vital point he delivered the 
stroke that laid him low. He smote him on the brow 
of his presumption, on the forehead of his pride. I 
suppose he had lifted up his vizor to take a look at his 
contemptible adversary, when the stone sunk in which 
let out for ever that boastful soul. So when our Lord 
stood forth to contend with sin, he projected his atoning 
sacrifice as a stone that has smitten sin and all its 
powers upon the forehead. Thus, glory be to God, sin is 
slain. It is not wounded merely, but it is slain by the 
power of Jesus Christ. 

Andremember that David cut off Goliath's head with his 
own sword. Augustine, in his comment on this passage, 
very well brings out the thought that the triumph of our 
Saviour Jesus Christ is here set forth in the history of 
David. He, "through death, destroyed him that had 
the power of death, that is, the devil/ 5 " He death by 
dying slew" — cut off the giant's head with his own 
sword. The cross that was meant to be the death of the 
Saviour was the death of sin. The crucifixion of Jesus, 
which was supposed to be the victory of Satan, was the 
consummation of his victory over Satan. Lo, this day 
I see in our Conquering Hero's hand the grizzly head of 
the monster sin, all dripping with gouts of gore. Look 



David's First Victory. 249 

at it, ye that once were under its tyranny. Look at the 
terrible lineaments of that hideous and gigantic tyrant. 
Your Lord has slain your foe. Your sins are dead ; he 
has destroyed them. His own arm, single-handed and 
alone, has destroyed your gigantic enemy. " The sting 
of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law ; but 
thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through 
our Lord Jesus Christ." Blessed and magnified be his 
holy name. And when David had thus achieved the 
death of Goliath, he was met by the maidens of Israel, 
who came forth and sang in responsive verse, accompanied 
with the music of their timbrels and joyous dancings, 
* c Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thou- 
sands." So he had his triumph. Meanwhile, the hosts 
of Israel, seeing that the Philistine Giant was dead, took 
heart and dashed upon the adversary. The Philistines 
were affrighted and they fled, and every Israelite that 
clay became a victor through the victory of David. They 
were more than conquerors, through him that had. loved 
them and won the victory for them. So let us now 
bethink ourselves to be victors. Our Lord has won the 
victory. He is to his glory gone. The angels have met 
him on the way. They have said, " Lift up your heads, 
O ye gates ; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors ; and 
the King of glory shall come in." And they that have 
been with him have answered to the question, " Who is 
-this King of glory ?" They have said, " The Lord mighty 
in battle : He is the King of glory. The Lord of hosts : 
He is the King of glory." And this day the feeblest 
believer triumphs in Christ. Though we should have 
been beaten, nor could we have hoped for victory — yet, 
now, through Jesus Christ our Lord, we chase our 



250 Type and Emblems. 

enemies ; we trample sm under our feet ; and we go 
from strength to strength through his completed victory. 
There is much room for you to think here. Will you 
think this over for yourselves ? It is better I should not 
do all the thinking for you. You will find the analogy 
capable of much amplification. I have given you only 
just as it were a sort of charcoal outline — a rough 
draft. Make a picture of it at your leisure, and it 
may prove a beneficial study and a profitable meditation. 
II. With much brevity let us now revert to David as* 

AN EXAMPLE FOR EVERY BELIEVER IN ClIRIST. 

Above all things, it behoves us, dear brethren and sisters, 
to consider that if we are ever to do anything for God and 
for his church, we must be anointed with holy oil. O, 
how vain it would be for us to grow zealous with a sort of 
creature carnal fanaticism, and to attempt great things, 
in sheer presumption, which can only issue in utter 
failure. Unless the Spirit of God be upon us we have- 
no might from within and no means from without to 
rely upon. Wait upon the Lord, beloved, and seek 
strength in his succour. There cannot come out of you 
what has not been put into you. You must receive and 
then give out. Remember how the Lord Jesus describes 
it : — " The water that I shall give him shall be in him a. 
well of water springing up into everlasting life/' And 
again, in another place, " he that believeth on me as the 
Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of 
living water." 

You cannot do David's work if you have not David's 
anointing. When you remember that your divine 
Master tarried for the heavenly anointing, you can hardly 
expect to do without it. Be not so foolish. Christ went 



David's First Victory. 251 

not to his public ministrations till the Spirit of God 
rested upon him. The apostles tarried at Jerusalem, 
and went not forth to preach till power was given to 
them from on high. The point, the pre-requisite, the 
sine qua non with us, is to have that power. O, to preach 
in that power — to pray in that power — to look after 
wandering souls in that power ! Your Sunday-school 
work, your home missionary work, your every form of 
ministry for Christ, must be done in that power. Get ye 
to your knees. Get ye to the cross. Get ye to your 
Master's feet. Sit ye still in faith and hope, until he 
shall have given you the strength that shall qualify you 
to do the Master's work, in the Master's way, to the 
Master's praise. 

David, too, stands before us as an example of the fact 
that our opportunity will come, if our efficiency has been 
bestowed, without our being very particular to seek it. 
David fell into position. The place he was fitted to 
occupy, he was providentially called to fill as a great 
man in Israel. Little did he guess, when he went with 
the load of cheeses upon his shoulders, that he was ere- 
long to be distinguished beyond all other men in Pales- 
tine. Yet it was so. Beloved, do not be in a hurry to 
look out for your sphere. Be ready for your sphere ; 
your sphere will come to you. I speak to many dear 
young brethren who are studying for the ministry. Be 
prepared for any work rather than be looking out for 
some particular work. God has his niche for you. You 
will drop on your feet : depend upon that. Be ready. 
Your business is to be ready. Have your tools well 
sharpened, and know how to handle them. The place 
will come to you, the best place for you, if you are not 



9.59. 



Types and Emblems. 



so much looking after that which meets your taste, as 
after that which proves you to be a vessel fit for the 
Master's use. David finds his occasion. He has received 
the Spirit first, which is the main thing, and then he 
has found the occasion which calls out his credentials. 
These tilings being clear, I gather from David's example 
that when we feel a call from God to do something for 
him, and for his church, we need not wait until those 
whom we hold in respect coincide with us as to the pro- 
priety of entering upon the service. Had David said, 
"Well, I shall wait till Eliab, and Abinadab, and 
Shammah, my elder brothers, are all perfectly agreed 
that I am the man to fight Goliath/' I suspect he would 
never have fought with Goliath at all. Great deference 
is due to the judgment of our seniors, but greater respect 
is due to the motions of the Spirit of God within our 
heart. I would to God there were more regard shown for 
those inward monitions among Christians than there is 
wont to be in these times. If thou hast a thought put into 
thy heart, or a charge sounded in thy conscience, obey it, 
man ; act up to it, though no one else perceives it or encou- 
rages thee. If God has shown thee his counsel, at your 
peril hide the presage or shrink from the performance. 
What ! With the fear of God in our hearts, and a commis- 
sion from God in our hands, shall we halt and hesitate and 
become the servants of men ? I would rather die than 
have to come into this pulpit to ask your leave, or to 
get any man's consent, as to what I shall preach. God 
wots he will speak — what he hath to say to me, and by 
the help of his good Spirit. I will deliver it to you as I 
hear it from himself. May this tongue be silent or ever 
it becomes the servant of man. David was of that 



David's First Victory. 253- 

mind. He felt he had something to do, and though he- 
could listen to what other people had to say, yet they 
were no masters of his. He served the living God, and 
he went about the business entrusted to him un- 
daunted by any judgment they might form of him. He 
that speaketh for God should speak honestly. Let 
others criticise and sift the chaff from the wheat. He 
must expect that. But as for himself, let him give out 
the pure wheat as he believeth it to be, and fear no man, 
lest he come under the condemnation of the God of 
heaven. Go, my brother, about thy business, if God 
give it thee to do. If I upbraid thee, what of that ? I 
am but a man. Or if all those in whose good esteem 
you would gladly stand turn upon you with hard sus- 
picions and cutting censures — they are but men, and to 
God alone is your allegiance due. Go thou about thy 
Master's work, as David did, with dauntless nerve but 
modest mien. He were an ill servant who, after once 
getting his Master's orders, should leave them unper- 
formed, and excuse himself by saying, " I met one of 
my fellow-servants, and he said he thought I might be 
too bold in my adventure, and therefore I had better 
not attempt it." To your own Master you will stand or 
fall. Take care that you stand well with him. 

Learn from David, too, to return quiet answers to 
those who would roughly put you aside from your work. 
Generally it is better to return no answer at all. I 
think David spake not so well by word as by deed. 
His conduct was more eloquent than his language. As 
he came back from the fight, holding up the giant's 
head, I could hope that Eliab saw him; and that 
Abinadab and Shammah came out to meet him. If 



251 Types and Emblems. 

they did, be might simply have held up the trophy, 
and allowed its ghastly visage to reply for him. It is 
not, they would think, after all, because of his pride or 
the naughtiness of his heart, or from an idle curiosity 
to see the battle, that he has come. They would per- 
ceive that he had come to do God's work in his own 
way : that God had helped him to gain the victory, rout 
the foe, and relieve the fears of Israel ; and that through 
the man whom they despised the Lord had made his 
own name glorious. 

Learn, again, from David's example, the prudence of 
keeping to tried weapons. I have often heard it spoken 
of as an unlikely thing that David should kill the giant 
with a stone. I think those who talk so miss the point. 
"What missile could be handier or better suited for the 
occasion ? If the fellow was tall, a sling would carry a 
stone high enough to reach him ; and if he was strong, 
very strong, the sling would give such impetus to the 
stone that David could assail his adversary without 
getting within his reach. It was the best weapon he 
could have used. Oriental shepherds, if those of olden 
time were like those of modern days, had practice 
enough to make them proficient in slinging stones. 
They spend many hours both alone and with their fel- 
lows over feats of the sling. It is generally their best 
weapon for the protection of their sheep in the vast 
solitudes. I do not doubt that David had learnt to sling 
a stone to a hair's breadth, and not miss. As for the 
sword, he had never had one in his life ; for there was 
neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the 
people that Were with Saul and Jonathan, save that 
which was found with Saul and Jonathan his son. We 



David's First Victory. 255 

are told as much as that in the thirteenth chapter. The 
Philistines had so completely disarmed the whole popu- 
lace that they had not got any such weapons. With 
the use of them, therefore, David could not have been 
familiar. And as to the coat of mail — a cumbersome, 
uneasy, comfortless equipment — the wonder to me ia 
how the knights of old did anything at all in such 
accoutrements. No marvel that David put the thing 
off. He felt most at ease in his own shepherd's garb. 
Of course we are not going to infer that unsuitable 
instruments are desirable. Y^e teach nothing so ro- 
mantic or absurd. It well becomes us to use the most 
suitable tools we can find. As for those stones out of 
the brook, David did not pick them up at hazard; he 
carefully chose them, selecting smooth stones that would 
fit exactly in his sling — the kind of stone he thought 
best fitted for his purpose. Nor did he trust in his 
sling. He tells us he trusted in God, but he went to 
work with his sling as if he felt the responsibility to be 
his own. To miss the mark would prove his own clumsi- 
ness : to compass his aim would be of God's enabling. 
Such, my brethren, is the true philosophy of a Chris- 
tian's life. You are to do good works as zealously as if 
you were to be saved by your good works, and you are to 
trust in the merits of Christ as though you had done 
nothing at all. So, too, in the service of God, though 
you are to work for God as if the fulfilment of your 
mission rested with yourselves, you must clearly under- 
stand, and stedfastly believe, that after all the whole 
matter from first to last rests with God. Without him 
all you have ever planned or performed is unavailing. 
That was sound philosophy of Mahomet's when the 



256 Types and Emblems. 

man said, " I have turned my camel loose, and trusted 
in providence/' " No," answered he, " tie your camel 
up and then trust in providence/' Do the best you 
can and trust in God. God never meant that faith in 
him should be synonymous with sloth. Why, for the 
matter of that, if it is all God's work, and that is to be 
the only consideration, there is no need for David to 
have a sling. Nay, there is not any need for David at 
all. He may go back, lie on his back in the middle of 
the field, and say, " God will do his work : he does not 
want me." That is how fatalists would talk, but not 
how believers in God would act. They say, " God wills 
it, therefore I am going to do it" — not "God does it, 
and therefore there is nothing for me to do/' Nay, 
" Because God works by me, therefore I will work by his 
good hand upon me. He is putting strength into his 
feeble servant, and making use of me as his instrument, 
good for nothing though I am apart from him. Now 
will I run to the battle with alacrity, and I will use my 
sling with the best skill I have, taking quiet, calm, deli- 
berate aim at that monster's brow, since I believe that 
God will guide the stone and accomplish his own end.' 5 
When you are bent on serving God give him your best ; 
keep not back ought of nerve or muscle, ought of skill or 
sagacity you can dedicate to the enterprise. Say not, 
" Anything will do : God can bless my lack as well as my 
competency." Doubtless he can, but undoubtedly he will 
not. Be careful to do your best. David in his old age and 
his riper experience would not offer to God that which cost 
him nothing. Do not attempt to render unto God 
slovenly service, and flatter yourselves that he will bless 
it. He can bless it ; but that is not the way in which he 



David's First Victory. 257 

usually deigns to work. Though he often takes rough 
tools, he fashions them and polishes them for his use. 
He can convert rude men into able ministers of the New 
Testament. Think not, however, that his grace will 
excuse your presumption. But go with the instruments 
you have proved. When any of you working men 
attempt to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, do not 
try the fine arguments that are often used to combat 
infidels. You will never manage them. They will be 
sure to embarrass you. Tell to your neighbours and 
comrades what you have felt and handled of the Word of 
Life. Declare to them those things that are written in 
the Scriptures. These texts are the smooth stones that 
will suit your sling. Keep to these things. Why, they 
tell us, now-a-day, that we ought to take up those argu- 
ments which are invented by modern philosophers, 
examine them, study them, and come forward on the 
Sabbath-day and at other times to answer them ; that 
we should use historical research and logical acumen to 
rebut infidel calumnies. Ah ! SauPs armour does not fit us. 
They that like it may wear it ; but, after all, to preach 
Christ and him crucified — to tell out the old, old story 
of eternal love and of the blood which sealed it, the 
manner of redemption, the truth of God's unchangeable 
grace — this is to use those stones and that sling which 
will surely find out the forehead of the foe. 

Next, observe that from the work which David begun 
he ceased not till he had finished it. He had laid the 
giant prone upon the soil, but he was not satisfied till he 
had cut off his head. I wish that some who work for 
Christ would be as thorough as this young volunteer was. 
Have you taught a child the way of salvation ? Do not 

17 



258 Types and Emblems. 

leave off till that child is enrolled in the fellowship of 
believers. Have you faithfully preached the gospel to any 
congregation of people ? Continue to instruct, counsel, 
and encourage them, until you see them established in 
the faith. Or if you have refuted a heresy, or denounced 
a vice, follow up the assault until the evil is exterminated. 
Not only kill the giant, but have his head off ! Never 
do the work of the Lord deceitfully. Never spare a 
device of the devil pitifully. Bad habits and besetting 
sins should be levelled with a decisive blow. But let 
not that be enough. Give them no chance of recovering 
their strength. With humble penitence and earnest 
resolution, in reliance on God and detestation of the 
foe, see to it that the head shall be taken from the sin as 
well as the stone sunk in its forehead. In so doing you 
may look for help you had not reckoned on. You have 
no sword with you : you have not wanted to cumber 
yourself with one, even as David had no need to carry 
a sword in his hand, for Goliath was carrying a sword 
with him, which might well serve for his own execution. 
Whenever you serve God you strive against error ; re- 
member that every error carries the sword with which it 
will be slain. In maintaining the cause of truth, we need 
not be surprised if the fight be long ; but we may always 
count on the pride of the adversary turning to his 
own hurt. The conflict will be shortened by himself. 
When the invaders, most of all, relied on the alliances 
they had formed, it often happened that Israel won the 
day through the Moabites and the Assyrians falling out 
amongst themselves. Very frequently it has been God's 
plan to let his adversaries turn upon each other and end 
the fight to his servants' comfort. Behold the giant's 



i 



David's First Victory. 259 

head taken off with his own sword. Let it be before 
your eyes for a sign. It matters not, brethren, though 
we should be in the minority on certain eminent matters, 
as we undoubtedly are. The question for you is, are 
you right ? Are you right ? The right is sure to win ! 
Have you truth on your side ? Have you the Bible on 
your side ? Have you Christ on your side? Well, you 
may belong to a despised community ; you may be 
associated with a very few and a very poor people. 
Flinch not— let not your heart quail. Had you no 
strength with which to overcome the adversary, excepting 
that which is promised by God, you have quite enough. 
But there lies in ambush, in the camp of your adversary, 
an assistance and an aid to truth that you have not 
perhaps thought of. The old dragon stings himself to 
death. As vice consumes the vitals of the man who 
indulges in it, so does error, in the long run, become its 
own destroyer. Full often truth shines out the more 
brightly from the very fact that an error has beclouded 
the world with its dense shadows. Go on, then ! Strive 
with coolness and courage ! Be not daunted by the 
comely face, the princely figure, or the battle array of 
your antagonist ! Let not his vaunting words deter you. 
Call on the name of Jehovah, the Lord of hosts, and use, 
even in God's battles, those weapons which you have tested 
and proved. But take care to go through with God's 
work ; do it thoroughly, looking unto Jesus, the author 
and finisher of your faith ; so beloved, you may expect 
to go from strength to strength and bring glory to God. 
I would we were all on the Lord's side, that we were 
all the soldiers of Christ. Do any here confess that they 
are not? Are there any of you that feel sin lying 



260 Types and Emblems. 

heavily upon you, and yet you fain would be at pence 
with God in fellowship with Jesus? Beloved, Jesus has 
never yet rejected one that came to him. It has never 
yet been said that his blood was not able to cleanse the 
vilest soul ! Go to him. You cannot give him greater 
joy than by going to him and confessing your sin and 
seeking his mercy. He waits to be gracious, He slays 
sin, but he takes pity on sinners. He is ready to pardon 
them. He is the enemy of Goliath, but he sits on Zion's 
hill, glad to welcome the very poorest of the poor that 
come to him. If you are the worst sinner that ever 
lived, he is still able to save to the uttermost. If you 
have no hope and no confidence — if you feel as though 
sentence had gone forth that you should die for ever, 
your fears are no clue to God's counsels. He has not 
spoken the bitter things you have imagined against your- 
self. Give ear to what he has said — " Let the wicked 
forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts ; 
and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy 
upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly 
pardon." Oh! to be on Christ's side maintains the heart 
in calm and inflames the soul with joy, notwithstanding 
the pain that now tortures your nerves, or the shame 
that mantles your cheeks ! But ah ! to be on the other 
side — to be an enemy of Jesus — is a woe that blights all 
present joy, and a portent that augurs all future bane. 
The future, the future, the future ! This is the worst of 
all to be dreaded. "Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye 
perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a 
little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in 
him." The Lord give you, every one of you, to be 
thus timely wise, for his name's sake. Amen. 




jjjfwiil w0 \p fifk^m, 



" And of the Gadites there separated themselves unto David into 
the hold to the wilderness men of might, and men of war fit for the 
"battle, that could handle shield and buckler, whose faces were like the 
faces of lions, and were as swift as the roes upon the mountains ; Ezer 
the first, Obadiah the second, Eliab the third, Mishmannah the fourth, 
Jeremiah the fifth, Attai the sixth, Eliel the seventh, Johanan the 
eighth, Elzabad the ninth, Jeremiah the tenth, Machbanai the eleventh. 
These were of the sons of Gad, captains of the host : one of the least wa8 
over an hundred, and the greatest over a thousand. These are they 
that went over Jordan in the first month, when it had overflown all his 
banks ; and they put to flight all them of the valleys, both toward 
the east and toward the west." — 1 Chronicles xii. 8 — 15. 




. > AVID, compelled to flee from his own country, 
and to hide himself from the malice of Saul, 
was eminently a type of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, who, in the days when he dwelt here 
among men, was despised and rejected of 
men. And at this moment it is well known 
to the true church of God, and it 5 becomes 
palpably evident to every earnest believer in the gospel, 
that Jesus, the son of David, is not received, acknow- 
ledged, or tolerated in this present evil world. He has 
gone forth without the camp. All who would repair to 
him must go forth likewise, bearing his reproach. These 
eleven Gadites — all of them remarkable men — espoused 



262 Types and Emblems, 

the cause of David when he was in his very worst con- 
dition ; they left the ease and comfort, the honours 
and emoluments, of their own home to associate them- 
selves with him when he was regarded as an outlaw 
under the ban of society. And to this day every Chris- 
tian who is faithful to his profession must separate him- 
self from his fellow men to be a follower of the despised 
Jesus. In that way, aud with that faith which men still 
count heresy, must he join himself with that sect which 
is everywhere spoken against, running the gauntlet of the 
age, if he would espouse the cause of the Lord's 
anointed. 

In tracing out the parallel, let me now draw your 
attention, first to the leader who commanded the volun- 
tary homage of good and valiant men, and then to the 
recruits who joined themselves to him, of whom we find 
a graphic description in our text. 

I. The leader, whom we regard as a type of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, was David, the son of Jesse; and in 
tracing out some points of analogy, we begin by noticing 
that, like David, our Lord was anointed of God to be 
the leader of his people. Hence the words of prophecy 
concerning him, " I will make an everlasting covenant 
with you, even the sure mercies of David. Behold, I 
have given him for a witness to the people, a leader 
and commander to the people/' The Spirit of God is 
upon Jesus of Nazareth, for him hath God the Father 
anointed. " Unto him shall the gathering of the people 
be." We may well be ready to follow a leader whom 
God hath appointed and commended to us with such 
high praise." I have laid help upon one that is mighty, 
I have exalted one chosen out of the people. I have found 



David and his Volunteers, 263 

David my servant ; with my holy oil have I anointed 
him : with whom my hand shall be established : mine 
arm also shall strengthen him." The Lord in his own 
sovereignty, with wisdom and prudence, has been pleased 
to fix his choice upon the man Christ Jesus to be our 
Federal Head, our King, and our Commander. What 
other justification do we need for following Christ than 
that God himself thus sets him forth ? To this choice 
of God our soul agrees. Never be afraid, young man, 
of acknowledging Christ. Never let any of us blush to 
own the blessed impeachment that we are followers of 
the Lamb. It is an honour to follow one who has the 
highest sanction of heaven in taking the command and 
exercising the authority that pertains to him. 

Jesus was like David, too, in that he was personally 
fit to be a leader. David, alike by his character and his 
deeds of prowess, had become the foremost man of 
his times. So our blessed Lord, as to his person, is 
just such a King as one might desire to obey ; and, as for 
his achievements, O tell what his arm hath done — what 
spoils from death his right hand won ! Let his fame be 
spread over all the earth ! He stood in the gap when 
there was none to help. He vanquished the foe who 
threatened our destruction. He set his people free. He 
led their captivity captive. In point of courage and in 
feats of war he so outstripped David that I may safely 
say David has slain his thousands, but Jesus his tens of 
thousands. He is a man of war. The Lord is his name. 
He hath defeated all the principalities and powers, and 
put to rout all the hosts of hell that came against his 
people. Therefore let him be acknowledged as King. 
Who else should be exalted among the people but he 



264 Types and Emblems. 

who hath done wonderful things for the people? No 
marvel that the men of Israel gathered around David 
with a glowing enthusiasm, and proved their patriotism 
by their allegiance to his sovereignty. Nor need we 
wonder that the children of God should shout — 
" All hail the power of Jesu's name ! 
Crown him Lord of all." 

Right well does he deserve all the homage we can ever 
ascribe to him. 

But our Lord, though anointed of God and meriting 
the distinction which he gained, was, nevertheless, like 
David, rejected of men. Poor David ! Saul thirsted 
for his blood, put him upon dangerous enterprises, in 
the hope that he might die ; and when he saw that God 
was with him, he hated him yet the more, till he 
hunted him like a partridge upon the mountains. He 
could find shelter nowhere. If he went to the priests 
of Nob, the king came and slew all the inhabitants of 
the city ; or if he went to Keilah, and fought with the 
Philistines and saved the inhabitants of Keilah, yet 
by-and-by they were willing to give him up to his enemies. 
He was safe nowhere. Now, our Lord Jesus Christ here 
upon earth was in like manner despised and rejected of 
men ; nor has the offence of his cross ceased to this day. 
You may be a nominal Christian, and have the good 
esteem of all men ; but if you are a true disciple of 
Jesus, obeying him from the heart, openly avowing his 
cause, and diligently testifying his name, you will meet 
with bitter hostility in all sorts of places and among all 
sorts of people. Rest assured that until Christ comes 
it will be true that if ye were of the world, the world 
would love its own, but because ye are not of the 






David and his Volunteers. 265 

world, but Christ hath chosen you out of the world, 
therefore the world hateth you. There may be Chris- 
tians placed in such sheltered nooks, and living among 
such godly families, that they do not come into collision 
with the outside world ; but if you do come into con- 
nection with the world in any way, you will be sure to 
prove its enmity. As it is in rebellion against God, and 
hostile to Christ, it will be intolerant of you. So 
Ishmael persecuted Isaac even in Abraham's own house- 
hold. So the seed of the serpent hates the seed of the 
woman. So, too, those that are under the law own no 
kindred with those that are the children of the promise. 
Marvel not then ; it scarcely becomes you to murmur, 
though it sometimes appears to you a hard lot. Jesus 
Christ is still as a root out of a dry ground, without 
form or comeliness to the mass of mankind. True 
religion is not still to be found in fashionable circles ; 
it finds little favour amongst the great and mighty, 
though to-day it does not hide its head in the clefts and 
caves of the rocks. While the violence of persecution 
is abated in its outward manifestations of terror, the 
malice out of which it grew still survives, and the 
people of God are harassed by it in a thousand ways. 
The iron is made to enter into their soul. Thus the 
cruel jealousy and the galling animosity with which 
David was driven forth, and hunted from place to place, 
find a counterpart in the treatment that Christ himself 
received, and that all his faithful followers have in their 
measure to endure. But notwithstanding the pains and 
penalties they incurred in those dark days, the really good 
and pious people in Israel rallied to the standard of David. 
I know it is said that those who were in debt and 



266 Types and Emblems, 

discontented came to David. That is quite true; and well 
it typifies the abject condition of those poor sinners who 
come to Christ for refuge ; but many of those Israelites 
were reduced in circumstances and brought into debt 
through the bad government of Saul. Probably the 
very best people in the country were to be found among 
those who gathered around David ; and certainly there 
was with David, Abiathar the high priest. He came to 
David as the representative of the godly, the puritanic 
party. With David likewise there was Gad the prophet. 
And you know how in the early days of David's perse- 
cution he resided with Samuel the prophet of the Lord: 
so that the gracious party was always on David's side. 
Does not the like thing happen among those who ally 
themselves with the Son of David at this day ? Although 
he whom we worship is despised and rejected of men, 
yet unto you who believe he is precious. They that 
fear the Lord love Christ and embrace his gospel. 
Those that have a new heart and a right spirit are not 
at all dubious which side to take. They have lifted up 
their hands to the crucified One, and they are sworn to 
do battle for his cause as long as they live. We need 
not be ashamed to side with Jesus, for we shall be in 
good company — not in the company of the nobles of 
the earth, those who bear its titles, own its wealth, 
or enjoy its empty fame, but in the company of the 
pure in heart, of the heirs of the promises, of those to 
whom God has been pleased to reveal himself, yea, of 
the babes out of whose mouths he has perfected praise. 
O we may be well content to cast in our lot with God's 
elect, be they who they may in the world's esteem, or 
be their lot what it may in their pilgrimage to the 



David and his Volunteers, 207 

better country. With them would we be numbered ; 
with them would we be associated ; with them would we 
go, Let Christ's people be our people. Where they 
toil would we toil ; with them would we live ; with them 
would we die ; with them would we be buried, in the 
glad hope that with them we shall rise again, to live for 
ever in the fellowship of the saints. 

Mark one thing more. Despised as David was 
among men, yet, being anointed of God, his cause in 
the end was successful. He did come to the throne : 
and so it is with our Lord Jesus Christ. Notwith- 
standing all the opposition that still rages against his 
cause, it must prosper and prevail. He shall see his 
seed ; he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the 
Lord shall prosper in his hands. Well may the enmity 
of the wicked provoke the irony of heaven. ' ' Why do 
the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?" 
" He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh : the Lord 
shall have them in derision." It is Jehovah himself who 
says it: "Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of 
Zion." God's decree has placed him there. Shall the 
conspiracy, think ye, of kings and rulers unseat him ? 
Nay, there must he sit, till all his enemies are beneath 
his feet. O it is good to be with Christ to-day, for then 
we shall be with him to-morrow. It is good to be with 
him in the pillory, for if we can bear the reproach we shall 
one day be with him on his throne to share the glory. 
If you will walk with Christ through the mire, when he 
goes barefoot, you shall be with him in the golden 
streets when he puts on the golden sandals, and the 
angels fall down and worship him. O, if you can foot 
it with him in his deeds of service, when he grows 



268 Types and Emblems. 

weary and footsore, you shall ride with him on his white 
horse of victory, when all the armies of heaven shall 
follow him in his great achievements. If you are with 
him in his humiliation, you shall be with him in his 
triumph. I think I have told you before, a little parable, 
which I will venture to repeat in this place. There was 
a certain king whose son was sent upon an errand to a 
far country, and when he came into that country, al- 
though he was the lawful prince of it, he found that the 
citizens would not acknowledge him. They mocked at 
him, jested at him, and took him and set him in the 
pillory, and there they scoffed at him and pelted him 
with filth. Now, there was one in that country who 
knew the prince, and he alone stood up for him when 
all the mob was in tumult raging against him. And 
when they set him on high as an object of scorn, this 
man stood side by side with him to wipe the filth from 
that dear royal face ; and when from cruel hands mis- 
siles in scorn were thrown, this man took his full share ; 
and whenever he could he thrust himself before the 
prince to ward off the blows from him if possible, and to 
bear the scorn instead of him. Now it came to pass 
that after awhile the prince went on his way, and in due 
season the man who had been the prince's friend was 
called to the king's palace. And on a day when all the 
princes of the court were round about, and the peers 
and nobles of the land were sitting in their places, the 
king came to his throne and he called for that man, and 
he said, " Make way, princes and nobles ! Make way ! 
Here is a man more noble than you all, for he stood 
Doldly forth with my son when he was scorned and 
scoffed at ! Make way, I say, each one of you, for he 



David and his Volunteers. 269 

shall sit at my right hand with my own son. As he 
took a share of his scorn, he shall now take a share of 
his honour'/' And there sat princes and nobles who 
wished that they had been there, ay ! envied the man 
who had been privileged to endure scorn and scoffing for 
the prince's sake ! You need not that I interpret the 
parable. May you make angels envious of you, if envy 
can ever pierce their holy minds. You can submit for 
Christ's sake to sufferings which it is not possible for 
seraphim or cherubim to endure. 

II. Having thus drawn your attention to the Leader, 
whom David the Son of Jesse prefigured, let me turn 
now to speak a little of those who gathered round him 
and enlisted in his service. The recruits who came to 
David were eleven in number. The first characteristic we 
read about them is that they were separated. " Of the 
Gadites, there separated themselves unto David " eleven 
persons. They were separated. Observe that. They 
separated themselves. They seem to have been captains 
of the militia of their tribe. The very least among them 
was over a hundred, and the greatest over a thousand 
But they separated themselves from their commands 
over their tribes — separated themselves from their 
brethren and their kinsfolk. I daresay many of their 
friends said to them, " Why, what fools you are ! You 
must be mad to espouse the cause of a fellow like 
David ! " and then they would call David all manner of 
foul, opprobrious names. " Are you going to be among 
those who associate with him, — a troop of banditti, — 
that ragged regiment ? " I'll be bound to say they had 
terms for David and his men which, in ears polite, it 
would not be meet to quote. It is a mercy that the 



270 Types and Emblems. 

language of those men of Belial has not been recorded. 
But these men all said, "Yes, we will separate ourselves." 
And, for the matter of that, they did not merely tear 
themselves away from their friends, but from their kins- 
folk too. David wanted their right arms, and he should 
have them. He wanted valiant men, and they would 
go and fight for David, whatever fond connection should 
be sundered thereby. Dear friends, in these times it is 
most important that everyone who is a Christian should 
understand that he must separate himself from the world. 
Ye cannot serve Christ and the world too. You cannot 
be of the world and of Christ's church. You may be 
nominally of the church and really of the world, but 
really of the world and really of the church you cannot 
possibly be. The Christian must differ from the world 
in many things. His language must not be the speech of 
Babylon, but the chaste, pure language which Christians 
use. His actions, his customs, his manners, his habits, 
must not be like those of other men. He is not to be 
full of affectation and eccentricity. He need not adopt 
a peculiar garb, or discourse in quaint phrases, or speak 
with an unnatural twang. All that may be mere 
formalism. Still there is ample room for separateness 
in that which meets the eye and addresses the ear of the 
observer. We need not display vanity in our attire. In 
dress Christians will be simple and chaste, not ornate 
and gaudy. In their speech, too, the children of God 
will certainly never use an oath or lend their tongue to 
the semblance of a lie ; from foolish talking and jesting, 
which are not convenient, they will rigidly abstain. 
But the tongue of a believer, my brethren, ought to be 
as a fountain which sendeth forth sweet water : in his 



David and his Volunteers, 271 

conversation there should be the meekness of wisdom : 
and when he cannot speak to profit, his silence may bear 
witness to his sincerity. But it is in his intercourse with 
the world that the Christian shows the moral force of 
his character. There it comes out because it cannot be 
hid. If his trade has become used to tricks and strata- 
gems which will not bear the light, he cannot conform 
to them ; he will shrink from them with abhorrence : he 
must keep a clean conscience. Other men may do the 
thing without compunction. It may have become te the 
custom/' But no antiquity or universality of custom 
will authorise that which is obviously wrong : so he can- 
not do it, and will not do it, for he is a Christian. He 
counts that a higher morality is required of him than of 
an ordinary man, and after this higher morality he 
seeks. From the world's religion the man of God will 
likewise stand aloof. He never asks himself what kind 
of religion does the present age consider most expedient. 
Nor does he wish to find out the fashionable taste in 
doctrine, or the order of devotion which is most agreeable 
to the undevout ; but he seeks after God, he diligently 
enquires for God's truth, he joins himself to God's church 
and earnestly promotes its welfare. Moreover, he loves 
God's ways and desireth to be under the power of God's 
Spirit. After this manner he separates himself. Does not 
the church in these days need to hear sounded every day, 
as a thunder clap, that divine commandment — "Come 
out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the 
Lord, and touch not the unclean thing ; and I will receive 
you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my 
sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty"? O, the 
shameful conformity of some professors with the world 



272 Types and Emblems* 

It degrades the church and debases themselves. God 
grant that we may be staunch in our nonconformity to 
the world ! To whatever church we may belong, may we be 
" holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners." 
But, observe, that these people separated themselves 
unto David. You may separate yourself and not separate 
yourself unto Christ ; and, if not, you only change from 
one form of worldly-mindedness to another. We are 
not to separate ourselves unto self-righteousness, or unto 
affectation, or unto a sect, but unto Christ. These people 
got away from their friends that they might get to 
David. We are to get away from the world that we may 
get closer to Christ. We often sing, " Oh, for a closer 
walk with God ! " But if our walk is to be close with 
God, it must be a long way from the world. We must 
separate ourselves, by divine grace, unto Christ. And 
then, as you read that they separated themselves unto 
David in the wilderness, let me entreat you to ask your- 
selves if you are ready to take part with a rejected, 
crucified Christ. Tens of thousands would separate 
themselves to David if he were in Hebron on the throne 
of Israel. They would go there to crown David in the 
day of his prosperity ; but the thing was to separate them- 
selves unto David in the wilderness. That is the work of 
real grace in the heart which leads us to take sides with 
a despised Christ. O, it is a blessed thing when God 
teaches you to say, " I will follow the truth wherever it 
leads me. I will follow it, though some shall say to me, 
* You are inconsistent/ I do not care about that. Though 
they shall say, ' Why, you are landed now in fanaticism.' 
I do not care about that. I will be a fanatic. If the 
truth leads me there, I will separate myself in the 



David and his Volunteers. 273 

wilderness." Though they should tauntingly say, 
" You only go to some l Little Bethel/ which is frequented 
b}' a few ignorant and vulgar people." Be it so. If 
Christ goes there, what matters that to us? If the 
truth should lead us down into the hovel, where we could 
only associate with the very lowest of the low, if they 
were the Lord's people, they should be our delight. I 
wish this spirit were in all Christians, that they would 
be loyal to truth and not pander to the world. Do not 
be everlastingly asking yourselves " What will so-and-so 
say ? and what will so-and-so say ? " Do the right, and 
fear not. Believe the truth : let what will come of it. 
Follow the straight line and do not trim your way. Go 
not round about for the sake of policy, but take sides 
with Jesus Christ in the day of scoffing, on the ground 
of principle. Do I speak to some men here who work 
in factories ? O, own Christ when other men laugh at 
him. Stand up for Jesus when the whole shop is full of 
jesting and jeering against religion. If your religion is 
worth having, it is worth enduring a little banter for. 
He that is a friend must be a friend in need. If you 
would be a friend of Jesus you will defend his name when 
it wants a defender and everybody is raging at him. To 
come to the Tabernacle and join your fellow Christians 
in praising .Jesus is very easy and involves no self-denial ; 
but the thing is, you merchants, to praise Jesus among 
your fellow-merchantswho are ungodly, — to bear witness, 
you working men, amongst others who fear not the 
Lord, — to separate yourselves unto David in the wilder- 
ness, — to cleave to Christ where he is scoffed at and 
despised. That is a true Christian. I beseech you, test 
yourselves by this ; for if you are ashamed of him in this 

18 



274 Types and Emblems. 

evil generation, he will be ashamed of you when he 
cometh in his glory. But if you, out of a pure heart, 
can confess him before a godless world, he will acknow- 
ledge you in the day when he cometh in the glory of his 
Father, and all his holy angels with him. O, for grace 
to be separate in this way ! 

Note, next, about these men that they were men of 
might It is said of them that they were men of might 
Avhose faces were like faces of lions, and they were as 
swift as the roes upon the mountains. All that came 
to David were not like that. David had some women 
and children to protect, but he was glad to receive 
others that were men of might. Now there came to 
Jesus, the greater David in his day, the weak ones of 
the flock, and he never rejected them. He was glad to 
receive even the feeblest : but there did come to our 
Lord and Master eleven men who, by his grace, were 
like these Gadites. Truly, I may say of his apostles, 
after our Divine Lord had filled them with his Spirit, 
that they had faces like lions and feet like hinds' feet, 
so swift were they for service and so strong for combat. 
How wondrously they ran to and fro to the very ends 
of the earth, like the roes of the mountains ; and how 
bravely they faced persecution and opposition, like lions 
that could not flinch from their prey ; and what grand 
works they did for David ! Would to God we were 
like them, beloved ! The grace of God can make us 
like them. The grace of God can make us brave 
as lions, so that wherever we are we can hold our 
own, or rather can hold, our Lord's truth, and never 
blush nor be ashamed to speak a good word for him at 
all times. He can make us quick and active too, so 



David and his Volunteers. 275 

that we shall be like the roes upon the mountains. I 
am afraid that often we are like the ass that coucheth 
down. We need the whip and the spur to make us 
move. We are like bullocks unaccustomed to the yoke 
of service. Yet it ought not to be so. Loved as we 
have been with such great love, and having tasted, as 
some of us can testify, of such dear favours from our 
Lord, being indulged with such intimate fellowship with 
himself, and sustained as we are now with such joy and 
peace in him, we ought to serve him with celerity and 
activity, with courage and confidence. We really should 
outvie the lion for his bravery, and the hinds and the 
wild goats of the rock for their swiftness. I pray it 
may be so. May God send to this church men — and 
women too — of this order, strong in the Lord and in 
the power of his might, to whom the joy of the Lord 
shall be their strength, who shall go about their Father's 
business with all their might — that might which is 
given them of God — and do great exploits for David 
while he is in the wilderness and needs their aid. 

But it is worth noticing that they were men of war, 
inured to discipline — men fit for the battle, that could 
handle shield and buckler. Now there are some men 
of might who do not seem to be good men of war, 
because they cannot keep rank. What exploits they may 
do they must needs do alone, for they cannot march with 
the army. There are some brethren I know who are 
most excellent people as individuals, but they seem 
never to be meant to march in the ranks ; they must 
everyone of them lead — they feel they must, they can- 
not be second to anybody ; neither can they be under 
any discipline or rule. Instead of taking their place in 



276* Types and Emblems. 

Christ's church, they seem to consider themselves inde- 
pendent of the church and its organisation. Howbeit, 
the men Christ wants in the church — and I pray him 
to multiply their number in our midst, and enlist all of 
us amongst them — are such as can keep step, observe 
the rule, and preserve order in the march, or in the 
fight for the service of the Lord. Men who can smite 
the foe, who can handle the sword and buckler, and 
ward off the arrows of the enemy, who can use the 
shield of faith and withstand the assaults of the ad- 
versary : we want these. May God teach us how to 
keep our places and to do our work. Some men have 
swords, but their swords seem to be more dangerous to 
their friends than to their foes. That is a kind of 
people one wishes to keep clear of. They are, no 
doubt, very zealous, but if they had a little love as well 
as a lot of zeal, and were endowed with a capacity for 
fellowship, it would greatly improve their character. 
This, however, seems to be their defect. They have 
such an excess of individuality, and they are withal so 
exclusive, that we can hardly imagine how they could 
pray — " Our Father which art in heaven," or recognise 
anybody else as belonging to the family of the Most 
High. God make us men of might, but may he also 
make us men of discipline. While we keep our place, 
and do our own work, may we delight to see others 
do their share of the work too. When we smite the 
foe may we delight to see others use the weapons of 
Christian warfare with skill and success. Do not shrink 
from the drill or revolt against discipline, for it is a 
great trait of a good soldier that he should know how to 
keep rank. These Gadites likewise furnish us with a 



David and his Volunteers, 277 

noble example of strong resolution. When the eleven 
men determined to join David they were living the other 
side of a deep river, which at that season of the year 
had overflowed its banks, so that it was extremely deep 
and broad. But they were not to be kept from joining 
David, when he wanted them, by the river. They swam 
through the river that they might come to David. O, I 
would like to hold up my Master's banner, and be his 
recruiting sergeant to-night, if I could entertain the 
hope that out of this company there would come men of 
such mettle whose hearts the Lord has touched to join 
themselves to the Lord, and fight for his cross, whatever 
might impede and stop their way. Do you stand back 
and shrink from avowing your attachment to the 
standard of God's anointed because it would involve loss 
of reputation, displeasure of friends, the frowns of your 
associates in the world, or the heartbreaks of anguish of 
those you tenderly love ? Know, then, that our Lord is 
worthy of all the troubles you incur, and all the risks 
you run; and be assured that the peace which a soul 
enjoys that once joins Christ in the hold, and abides 
with him in the wilderness, well repays a man for all 
that he has to part with in getting to his Lord and 
Master. We have known some of the rich that have 
joined Christ's church that have had to swim through 
overflowing rivers of contumely ; the unkindness they 
have braved has indeed been cold and chilling. We 
have known many a poor woman who has had to suffer 
from her husband's brutality, and many a poor man who 
has had to run the gauntlet of a thousand cruel tongues. 
But who is afraid ? Once see the King in his beauty, 
and your fears will vanish like smoke. Did you ever 



278 Types and Emblems. 

see his face bestained with spittle, and black and blue 
with the blows of mailed hands ? Did you ever see that 
head surrounded with the thorn crown, and mark the 
painful agony that was upon his visage, more marred 
than any man's ? And have not you said, " Saviour, 
since thou didst endure all this for me, there is nothing 
that I will count hard to endure for thee. I will count 
shame for thee to be my glory, and thy reproach shall 
be greater riches to me than all the treasures of Egypt" ? 
Have not you said that? If you have said so from 
your very soul, God the Holy Ghost writing it upon 
your heart, I know you have resolved to endure any pain 
or shame if you could but get to your Lord and stand 
side by side with him. They swam the river to get 
to David. O, believer, swim the river to be with Christ ! 
Now, it would appear that after they had got across 
the river they were attacked, but we are told that they 
put to flight all them of the valleys, both toward the east 
and toward the west. They were men of such resolution 
that if they had to fight to be on David's side they could 
fight; and, notwithstanding the opposition of those on the 
right hand and the opposition of those on the left, still 
push their way, lion-like men as they were, through all 
the forces that would impede them. O ye that love the 
Lord and Master, I beseech you in this evil day, this 
day of blasphemy and rebuke, stand not back : be not 
craven. Cast in your lot with him and with his people. 
Come to the front, hide not away like cowards ; for this 
is the day when he shall be accursed that comes not to 
the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against 
the mighty ! See you not everywhere how truth is 
fallen in the street — how the old idols of Rome are 



David and his Volunteers, 279 

once more set up in the high places of this land? The 
whole nation seems to have gone after the idols which 
our fathers removed. O ye that love Christ, come out 
and separate yourselves from all acquaintance, all asso- 
ciation with this evil thing. Come and join yourselves 
unto the Son of God by a holy covenant. If he be your 
beloved, and if his grace be in your heart, fear not. 
What have you to fear ? Greater is he that is with you 
than all they that are against you. Fear not. The 
battle is not. yours, it is the mighty God's. If truth be 
with you, you must conquer. If Christ the incarnate 
truth be with you, you are already more than a con- 
queror through him that has loved you. Never be 
ashamed, never turn aside from him who gave himself 
for you. Be stedfast, immovable. For this stedfast- 
ness you need to pray much and often to God, for many 
are the seductions of the world. 

Can ye cleave to your Lord, can ye cleave to your Lord, 

When the many turn aside ? 
Can ye witness that he hath the living word, 

And none upon earth beside ? 

Do ye answer we can, do ye answer we can, 

Through his love's constraining power ? 
But do ye remember the flesh is weak, 

And will shrink in the trial hour ? 

Yet yield to his love, who around you now 

The bands of a man would cast; 
The cords of his love, who was given for you, 

To his altar binding you fast. 

Do examine yourselves. Prove your own hearts. 
Consider what manner of men ye ought to be. Let 
the precepts admonish you. Let the esprit de corps 



280 Types and Emblems, 

stimulate you. Never let disciples of Christ fall behind 
followers of David in warmth of attachment, or in order 
of service. The nearer you get to the person of your 
Lord, the more you will catch of his spirit. Methinks, 
beloved, you need direction more than exhortation. 
The more you live under his eye, and the oftener you 
listen to his voice, the better, truer, nobler men you 
will prove now, and the happier recognition you will 
find in the day of his appearing. 




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